Left Coast Crime Report

I’m back from Left Coast Crime and had a great time. It’s open crime readers as well as crime authors so the readers and writers can meet and get to know each other. About 300 folks (my rough estimate) came and I met some terrific people. Whether they had published 20+ books or still working on their first, everyone was very supportive. I highly recommend it if you ever get a chance to attend. Next year it will be in Santa Fe, NM, April 1-4.

John’s Grill is a landmark in San Francisco, famous because it’s mentioned in Dashiell Hammett’s Maltese Falcon. A group of us from Central Coast Writers (Pacific Grove, CA) went mostly for the experience.

They even have a small display honoring the book

The Usual Suspects

“Sam Spade went to John’s grill, asked the waiter to hurry up his order of chops, baked potato and sliced tomato…”—Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon)
I added the Old Fashioned just for color.

The next morning was a breakfast for new authors. As I was one of the forty new authors, I got to stand up and introduce my book in front of the attendees.

On Saturday, I was part of a writer panel titled, “Labels: Cozy, Traditional, Suspense or Thriller?” I Had fun, learned a lot and gained additional respect for the other genres.