Murder’s a Beach Newsletter: December 2019

A Great Book Room To Enjoy at LCC

In a previous newsletter we told you about two of the four sellers in the book room: Mysterious Galaxy (who will be handling sales of books for attending authors) and Keeline Books (dealing in older mysteries and children’s series books like Nancy Drew). Today, learn about the other two booksellers.

La Playa Books

La Playa Books opened its doors October 25, 2016. They are a used and antiquarian bookstore with a sprinkling of new books and gifts. The store had previously been Point Loma Books, but the new owners purchased it and renamed it, improving it substantially. Their family has been in San Diego since 1886 and is active in philanthropy and community events. This engagement with the community was their impetus to create a place of education and activity in our neighborhood. They host author signings and art events; children’s readings and in-store music. Their mission is to keep books and literacy alive in San Diego. In January, they will also open an Annex to their store to showcase the higher quality antiquarian books. La Playa Books website

Cross Genre Books

If you are a regular to Left Coast Crime then Cross Genre Books needs no introduction. Dale Johnson has been a frequent bookseller to our events throughout the years. He will be returning to us in San Diego, and bringing an excellent selection of mysteries for you to buy. Dale is from Oregon and has an online business that specializes in out-of-print mystery hardcovers and paperbacks.
Cross Genre Books website

Book Room Info for Authors

If you are an author and want to make sure your books is for sale at LCC 2020, Mysterious Galaxy will be handling the majority of sales of books published by traditional publishing houses available at industry standard terms of discount and returnability. Please email Jackie Jou if you have any questions about making sure titles are available at the conference.

Mysterious Galaxy will also handle consignment sales for the authors who publish their works through alternate avenues that are not available at industry standard terms of discount or returnability.

Authors will need to bring or ship their own books to the convention. Please email Jackie Jou to request consignment policy terms and materials. Consignment titles must have a price listed on the book or a price sticker for those books that do not have a listed price or a different price than listed on the books. Consignments are accepted at the rate of 60% for the author and 40% to the bookseller. At the end of the convention authors will need to pick up any unsold books.

Questions about the Book Room? Email Book Room Chair Maryelizabeth Yturralde

Side Trips

Come for LCC, But Plan To Enjoy San Diego Before or After

We are arranging some fun, optional, tours and events (details and signing up page will be up by start of the year). Here's a sneak peek of what you have to look forward to.

There is a Hop On-Hop Off Trolley tour of the city which can help you reach some of the major tourist areas of San Diego, including our fabulous Balboa Park — and it starts in Old Town which is just a few stops from the hotel on the metro trolley line (which has a station at the back of our hotel). We are getting a discount code to give you so you can buy tickets and tour on your own anytime during your stay.

Even better, we are privately chartering a few tours with them for Wednesday, March 11 — including a Haunted Tour (see cemeteries and haunted places in San Diego) for that night, and a beach tour of La Jolla during the afternoon. Look for the sign-up info, coming soon.

It will be so much fun, it's criminal!

Murderous Visions

An Interactive Murder Mystery Where You Are the Detective

Sandi Yeggo, a popular author who wrote a series of books about an optometrist turned private sleuth, hasn’t had a new book come out in over ten years, even though she left her character at a turning point in her life story. The next book in the series has been hotly anticipated, so when she announced there was finally a release date for Murderous Visions, everyone was thrilled. Sandi has arranged to come to San Diego to talk about her book and comes with her publicist, assistant, daughter, and others to enjoy the event. Unfortunately, when the book room opens on Thursday, she is found dead in the room. Who murdered Sandi Yeggo? You decide.

Clues will be given throughout the event, including police reports posted in the book room periodically, social media posts from Sandi and others connected to her will start before the event begins (we’ll give you links early next year), and witnesses will circulate at LCC to give you clues. Saturday you can submit your deductions: Who/How/Why?

From the deductions submitted, all correct answers will be put into a drawing for a special prize. If there are no correct answers then the judges will chose their favorite creative answer for the prize. To submit your deduction, we will ask you to make a small donation to our charity, Juvenile Court Book Club.

Silent Auction

Every year LCC chooses a charity in the host city to support. This year's charity is San Diego’s Juvenile Court Book Club which provides books to kids in the court system and provides author visits, discussion groups, and volunteer tutors. All proceeds from Left Coast Crime 2020’s auction will be donated to the Juvenile Court Book Club. Anyone — reader, writer, bookseller, librarian, blogger — may donate an item or two to the Silent Auction. You can either mail your Silent Auction donations to yourself at the hotel or bring them with you. We’ll be setting up the Silent Auction Room on Wednesday and Thursday, but we will accept donations on Friday as well. The Silent Auction ends Saturday before the Lefty Awards Banquet.
For more information, email our Auction Chair Kathy Krevet

Team 2020
Lisa Brackmann
Kim Keeline
Maryelizabeth Yturralde

Lefty Awards

We hope you have been making lists of all your favorite mysteries published in 2019. If not, start looking back over your notes because your Lefty Nomination Form will be coming your way very soon! Registrants of the 2019 and 2020 Left Coast Crime conventions will be able to nominate three titles in each Lefty Award category. Nominations will be accepted in early January for the four 2020 Lefty Awards:

Best Mystery Novel
Best Debut Mystery Novel
Best Humorous Mystery Novel
Best Historical Mystery Novel (The Bruce Alexander Memorial), covering events before 1970

To be eligible, titles must have been published for the first time in the United States or Canada during 2019, in book or ebook format. (If published in other countries before 2019, a book is still eligible if it meets the US or Canadian publication requirement.)

Nomination forms will be emailed to all 2019 and 2020 LCC registrants in late December. The Lefty Award nominees will be announced on January 13, 2020. Final voting for the Lefty Awards will be by paper ballot at the convention in San Diego.

Questions about the Lefty Awards? Email Awards Co-Chairs Lucinda Surber & Stan Ulrich

Sponsorship

Left Coast Crime encourages organizations to sponsor a variety of events such as the Opening Reception, the Awards Banquet, the Friday “Meet the New Authors” breakfast, the Saturday breakfast, and the hospitality suite. Other options include sponsoring one of our Guests of Honor or supporting Left Coast Crime by sponsoring items such as the convention book bag.

Books for Book Bags
We are happy to accept crime fiction and non-fiction books for distribution to all attendees in our book bags. There is no charge, but you will need to ship the books to arrive in early 2020. We accept any quantity of books, but prefer not to have more than 200 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 the title(s) and number of books you would like to donate.

If interested in donating books or other sponsorship opportunities, please email Lucinda Surber.

Advertising

Attention Authors! Please encourage your publisher to advertise in the Left Coast Crime Program Book. There are sizes and prices for every budget. Don’t be left out! The deadline for reserving ad space is February 1, 2020. Details and Ad Form

Registration

LCC 2020 San Diego Newsletters are also sent to LCC 2019 Vancouver registrants through the end of the Lefty nomination period ending in January 2020. If you are not sure whether you are registered for LCC 202o, check the San Diego Attendee page!

Registration Fee Increase
The registration fee of $215 for LCC San Diego will increase at midnight on December 31 to $235. Give the gift of Left Coast Crime to yourself and/or a friend!
Potential Panelists: Register by December 31, 2019, for priority panel placement.
Register for LCC San Diego

Questions about registration? Email Registrar Kathy Krevat

Left Coast Crime 2021: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Registration Is Now Open!
When: April 8–11, 2021
Where: Hyatt Regency Albuquerque
Guest of Honor: Mick Herron
Guest of Honor: Catriona McPherson
Fan Guest of Honor: Kristopher Zgorski
Toastmaster: Kellye Garrett
Ghost of Honor: Tony Hillerman
Visit the LCC 2021 website for more details and to register.