Squid Row: The Committee

The Big Squids: Co-Chairs Bill & Toby Gottfried & Lucinda Surber & Stan Ulrich

Bill and Toby Gottfried were on the initial LCC Committee in San Francisco and have participated ever since. Toby retired from her position at Calypte Biomedical in 2009 and Bill is a pediatrician who currently works with the State Medical society as a surveyor of Quality Medical Practices. Both were formally introduced to the mystery convention in 1985 at Bouchercon in San Francisco and have attended almost all Bouchercons since. They received the Don Sandstrom Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement in Mystery Fandom in 2008; were the program chairs for Bouchercon 1997 in Monterey; and were chairs of the Left Coast Crime conventions in 2004 (Monterey) and 2009 (Hawaii). They have attended all of the LCC conventions. Bill and Toby were Fan Guests of Honor at the first CrimeFest in Bristol, England and have been participants in Janet Rudolph’s Mystery Readers International reading group since 1985. They also have “chaired” their own summer reading group, Mystery Addicts, for about 18 years. Bill and Toby presently own about 16,000 mysteries, some of which they have even read. Email Bill Gottfried | Email Toby Gottfried

Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich joined the LCC family with Left Coast Crime 2011: The Big Chile. They serve as the Awards Co-Chairs for LCC, and Stan, a retired lawyer, is President of Left Coast Crime Committee, Inc. Their first mystery convention was Bouchercon 2007 in Alaska, and they’ve enjoyed exploring new places and meeting fellow mystery enthusiasts at Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime ever since. Together Lucinda and Stan are Stop, You’re Killing Me!, an Anthony award-winning web resource for lovers of mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense books. A former elementary school teacher, Lucinda created Bookworm for Kids—a resource for teachers, parents, grandparents, and all others interested in encouraging children to love reading. Lucinda and Stan try to give away as many books as they can, but still seem to have piles everywhere. Email Lucinda Surber | Email Stan Ulrich

Advisor to Co-Chairs & National Publicity Chair: Janet Rudolph
Email Janet Rudolph
Janet Rudolph is known as “The Mistress of Mystery.” She is the writer/producer for Murder on the Menu®, director of Mystery Readers International, editor of the Mystery Readers Journal, a teacher of mystery fiction, and has been a columnist for most of the mystery periodicals. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers, the British Crime Writers Association, Sisters in Crime, and the American Crime Writers League. She has been on panels at Bouchercon (the World Mystery Convention), Left Coast Crime, and several other mystery conventions. Janet was Fan Guest of Honor at Malice Domestic in Washington, DC, and an invited participant in international writing conferences in Spain, England, and Cuba. She blogs at Mystery Fanfare and Dying for Chocolate.

Program Chair: Robin Burcell
Email: rb (at) robinburcell.com
Robin Burcell, an FBI-trained forensic artist, has worked in law enforcement for over two decades as a police officer, detective and hostage negotiator. She is the author of the Anthony Award-winning Homicide Inspector Kate Gillespie series, plus a new series about FBI forensic artist Special Agent Sydney Fitzpatrick — Face of a Killer, The Bone Chamber, The Dark Hour, The Black List.

Awards Co-Chairs: Lucinda Surber & Stan Ulrich
Lucinda Surber & Stan Ulrich serve as the Left Coast Crime Awards Co-Chairs. Email them at Awards@LeftCoastCrime.org with questions about the Calamari Crime Awards.

Publisher Liaison: Toby Gottfried
Email Toby Gottfried
Co-Chair Toby Gottfried is also our Publisher Liaison.We are happy to accept crime fiction and non-fiction for distribution in the book bags. There is no charge, but you will need to ship the books to the event in late February or early March. Any quantity is accepted. We prefer not to have 800 copies of a single title; multiple titles are recommended if you would like to place a book in every bag. In order to make book distribution work for both the participants (who will love receiving your books) and the booksellers (who will plan to bring different books to sell) we ask that you provide our Book Coordinator with the title(s) and number of current releases you would like to donate. If interested in donating books, please contact Toby Gottfried.

Bookroom Chair: Don Longmuir
Email Don Longmuir
Don, Jenn, and Brody Longmuir run Scene of the Crime Books, specializing in signed editions, from St. Catharines, Ontario. They have sold books at previous Left Coast Crime conventions as well as Bouchercon, Bloody Words, and Malice Domestic. Don organized the Book Room for Bouchercon Cleveland.

Meet-the-New-Authors Breakfast Chair: Mike Befeler
Email Mike Befeler
Mike hosts the annual Meet-the-New Authors Breakfast at Left Coast Crime when eveyrone is invited to have breakfast with the new authors and hear a bit about their books. The five books in Mike’s Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit mystery series have earned him two Lefty Award nominations. The VV Agency, is the first in a new paranormal mystery series that spoofs the PI subgenre and introduces the transvictus—a unique shape shifter.

Program Book & Book Bag: Vallery Feldman
Email Vallery Feldman
Vallery has been a member of Janet Rudolph’s book group since May 1993. She was also a member of the groups responsible for Bouchercon 1997 in Monterey, and LCCs 2004 (Monterey) and 2009 (Hawaii). Together with her friend Pam Dehnke, Vallery makes the quilts that are raffled to raise money for the LCC charity. She is also known for the 2012 Sacramento, 2009 Hawaii, and 2004 Monterey book bags.

Advertising Co-Chairs: Carol Fairweather & Vallery Feldman
Carol Fairweather & Vallery Feldman are our Advertising Co-Chairs. Carol was a member of previous Monterey Left Coast Crime & Bouchercon planning committees with Bill and Toby Gottfried. She is a twenty-year member of Second Saturdays Mystery Discussion Group of Berkeley. Email Carol Fairweather or Vallery Feldman with questions about advertising in the Calamari Crime Program Book.

Auction Chair: Noemi Levine
noemi (at) noemilevine.com
Noemi Levine’s involvement with mystery conventions began with the 1997 Bouchercon in Monterey. Since then she has served as registrar and treasurer for numerous Left Coast Crime conventions, and was the Fan Guest of Honor for LCC 2012 in Sacramento. Noemi is Treasurer of Left Coast Crime Conference, Inc.

Roommate Liaison: Noemi is also our Roommate Liaison; please email her if you would like to be matched with a roommate and share a hotel room.

Webmaster: Lucinda Surber