 LCC 2024 Co-Chair: Laurie Rockenbeck
As a part-time private investigator with a background in journalism, Laurie Rockenbeck takes notes on human behavior and the darker side of humanity to fuel her fiction. Her work features Seattle’s only trans male homicide detective and a pro-domme turned PI. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UC-Riverside-Palm Desert. When not writing, Laurie knits, cooks, reads, and spends time with her family.
[website]
LCC 2024 Co-Chair: David B. Schlosser
 Writing as dbschlosser, David B. Schlosser is an award-winning fiction and non-fiction author and an award-winning editor. Currently president of the Mystery Writers of America Northwest chapter, he is a frequent presenter, moderator, and panelist at fan, writing, editing, and communications events. He's taught high-school debate, community-college crime fiction, and university writing. In his first career as a political consultant, he delighted and offended people in the pages of New York Times and Wall Street Journal as well as on “Hard Copy” and “Inside Edition.” Since the mid-1980s, his fiction has appeared in print and online. His non-fiction and journalism have run under his and other's names in business and trade publications, academic and scientific journals, and print and online news and culture outlets. Recently, his short story “Pretzel Logic” was republished in Best American Mystery Stories 2020 after appearing in Die Behind the Wheel: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Steely Dan. “Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up,” appeared in 2021’s Coming Through in Waves: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Pink Floyd. A Kansas native who earned degrees at Trinity University and University of Texas and lived in nearly a dozen states, he now calls the Pacific Northwest home. He lives near Seattle with his wife and their dogs and works as a user experience design leader for a global tech company.
 LCC 2024 Co-Chair: Brian Thornton
Brian is also the Panel Programming Co-Chair.
Brian Thornton is the author of twelve books — most recently the three-novella collection Suicide Blonde. His short fiction has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, The Big Click, Shred of Evidence, the Akashic Books anthology Seattle Noir, and the late, lamented BULLET UK. Down & Out Books published his double-volume collection of crime fiction by some of the top authors in the genre, and inspired by the music of jazz-rock legends Steely Dan (Die Behind the Wheel and A Beast Without a Name) in 2019. His story “Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School” recently appeared in the Anthony-nominated Lawyers, Guns, and Money: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Warren Zevon. He does all of his own stunts, loves the color blue and singing in the car with his wife and son, and lives in Seattle, where he has served numerous years as President of the Northwest Chapter for the Mystery Writers of America.
 Treasurer: Scotti Andrews
Scotti is also the Silent-Auction Co-Chair.
Scotti Andrews is an award-nominated writer of thrillers and horror, as well as romances written under a pen name. She has been on the board of the Northwest Chapter of Mystery Writers of America for over a decade and has resided in the dark gloom of Seattle for thirty years. She regularly speaks at writing conferences on craft and genre.
 Programming Co-Chair: Leslie J. Hall
Leslie is also the Registration Co-Captain and Silent-Auction Co-Chair.
Leslie J. Hall is the author of the Kaitlyn Willis Road Signs mysteries, a humorous, PG-rated, amateur sleuth series starring a NW code enforcement officer. She also writes women’s fiction and is in training to become a book coach. Leslie loves to speak, teach, and share her passion for writing with others. When not writing, Leslie volunteers for writer-related events, leads Write Night (a weekly virtual facilitated critique group), teaches beginning writing at community colleges in continuing ed, laughs as much as possible, and when not doing all of that, hangs out at the beach whenever possible. She lives in Bremerton, WA, with her husband and her pandemic rescue cat, Mia. Learn more about Leslie’s writing and her classes at her website.
Registration Co-Captain: Larry Keeton
Left Coast Crime National: Lucinda
Surber & Stan Ulrich
Email Lucinda Surber | Email Stan Ulrich
 Lucinda & Stan
joined the LCC family
with Left Coast Crime 2011: The Big Chile in Santa Fe, and were co-chairs (with Bill & Toby Gottfried) for 2014: Calamari Crime in Monterey, and chaired LCC 2022: Southwest Sleuths in Albuquerque. They also kept things afloat virtually with the 2021 Unconvention. They serve
as the Lefty Awards Co-Chairs for Left Coast Crime. Stan, a retired
lawyer, is President and Treasurer of Left Coast Crime Conference,
Inc., and Lucinda is Secretary. 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. Lucinda & Stan were the Fan Guests of Honor at Bouchercon 2015 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Together Lucinda and Stan are Stop,
You’re
Killing Me!, a two-time Anthony award-winning web resource
for lovers of mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense
books. Lucinda and Stan try to give away as many books as they
can, but still seem to have piles everywhere. Stan & Lucinda serve on the Left Coast Crime National Board. Stan is the Registration Manager.
Lefty Awards Co-Chairs
Lucinda Surber & Stan Ulrich serve as the Left Coast Crime Awards Co-Chairs. Email Awards@LeftCoastCrime.org with questions about the Lefty Awards.
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 everyone is invited to have breakfast with the new authors and hear a bit about their books. Mike is the author of 15 books including six novels in the Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series and recent standalones: Unstuff Your Stuff; Court Trouble: A Platform Tennis Mystery; an international thriller, The Tesla Legacy; and Death of a Scam Artist. Mike is past-president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. After a thirty-nine year business career, he retired into writing. He grew up in Hawaii, spent many years in Boulder, Colorado, and currently lives in Lakewood, California, with his wife Wendy. In addition to mystery writing, Mike is a professional grandpa, being entertained daily by his young grandson. [website]
Speed-Dating Co-Hosts: Les & Leslie Blatt
 Les & Leslie Blatt host the annual Speed-Dating event on Thursday morning. Les Blatt is a retired (and recovering) journalist. For over 15 years, he has written weekly reviews of classic mystery books for his Classic Mysteries blog and podcast, both of which are now on hiatus — he hopes they will return soon to the web. He and his wife, Leslie are active at several mystery conferences each year. Leslie Blatt is a retired School Library Media Specialist. In her 40 years of being in schools, she worked with all grade levels. Mysteries were always a major theme in her library as a resource for inquiry teaching, as well as getting kids to read. Mysteries have always been a favorite genre for Leslie since she was young, beginning with Nancy Drew. Les & Leslie serve on the Left Coast Crime National Board.
Publisher Liaison: Lucinda Surber
We are happy to accept crime fiction and non-fiction for distribution in the convention book bags. There is no charge, but books must be shipped to arrive by mid-March. Any quantity is accepted but we 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 us with the title(s) and number of current releases you would like to donate. If interested in donating books, please email Lucinda Surber.
National
Publicity Chair: 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. Janet has been the Fan Guest of Honor at Left Coast Crime, Malice Domestic, and Bouchercon. She
blogs at Mystery
Fanfare and Dying
for Chocolate. Janet was a founder of Left Coast Crime and serves on the Left Coast Crime National Board.
Webmaster: Lucinda Surber
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