Trouble in Tucson or Who I'm Stalking at Left Coast Crime

​Every year I look through the attendees of Left Coast Crime and decide which of their books I want to read and review this year.
Following are five authors I plan to read, and why.
Enjoy!
 
I signed up for a lunch with Matt Coyle. Have never met him and never read one of his novels. Shame, shame. So, I picked the first book in his best-selling crime series. I have high hopes—it was the winner of the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, as well as two or three others that year.
Yesterday’s Echo by Matt Coyle
A dishonored ex-cop's desperate chance for redemption

While never convicted of his wife's murder, Rick was never exonerated either. Not by the police. Not by the media. Not even by himself. Eight years later, police suspicion and his own guilt remain over his responsibility in his wife's death.

When he meets Melody Malana, a beautiful yet secretive TV reporter, he sees a chance to love again. When she is arrested for murder and asks Rick for help, the former cop says no, but the rest of him says yes and he grasps at a chance for love and redemption.

Rick's attempt to help turns terribly wrong, and he, too, becomes a suspect in the murder and the target of a police manhunt. On the run, Rick encounters desperate people who will kill to keep their pasts buried.

Before Rick can save himself and bring down a murderer, he must confront the truth about his own past and untangle his feeling for a woman he can never fully trust.
Coyle’s most recent novel is Doomed Legacy, the ninth and final book in the series.
 
Don’t Know Tough by Eli Cranor
In Denton, Arkansas, the fate of the high school football team rests on the shoulders of Billy Lowe, a volatile but talented running back. Billy comes from an extremely troubled home: a trailer park where he is terrorized by his mother’s abusive boyfriend. Billy takes out his anger on the field, but when his savagery crosses a line, he faces suspension.

Without Billy Lowe, the Denton Pirates can kiss their playoff bid goodbye. But the head coach, Trent Powers, who just moved from California with his wife and two children for this job, has more than just his paycheck riding on Billy’s bad behavior. As a born-again Christian, Trent feels a divine calling to save Billy—save him from his circumstances, and save his soul.

Then Billy’s abuser is found murdered in the Lowe family trailer, and all evidence points toward Billy. Now nothing can stop an explosive chain of violence that could tear the whole town apart on the eve of the playoffs.
This book is a 2023 Lefty nominee for Best Debut Mystery Novel.
Shutter by Ramona Emerson
Longlisted for the National Book Award

This blood-chilling debut set in New Mexico’s Navajo Nation is equal parts gripping crime thriller, supernatural horror, and poignant portrayal of coming of age on the reservation.

Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases—she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook. 

As a lone portal back to the living for traumatized spirits, Rita is terrorized by nagging ghosts who won’t let her sleep and who sabotage her personal life. Her taboo and psychologically harrowing ability was what drove her away from the Navajo reservation, where she was raised by her grandmother. It has isolated her from friends and gotten her in trouble with the law.

And now it might be what gets her killed.
This book is a 2023 Lefty nominee for Best Debut Mystery Novel.
In Place of Fear by Catriona McPherson
Edinburgh, 1948. Helen Crowther leaves a crowded tenement home for her very own office in a doctor's surgery. Upstart, ungrateful, out of your depth - the words of disapproval come at her from everywhere but she's determined to take her chance and play her part.

She's barely begun when she stumbles over a murder and learns that, in this most respectable of cities, no one will fight for justice at the risk of scandal. As Helen resolves to find a killer, she's propelled into a darker world than she knew existed, hardscrabble as her own can be. Disapproval is the least of her worries now.
This is Catriona’s most recent novel.
In Twilight’s Hush by Laurie Stevens
Detective Gabriel McRay investigates a cold case from 1988 involving a missing teenager named Nancy Lewicki. Evidence is sparse and Gabriel has no leads. Much to his dismay, a celebrity psychic, Carmen Jenette, hypes the unsolved case on her television show. Gabriel warns Carmen not to interfere. 
 Meanwhile, strange dreams of water and corpses haunt Gabriel's sleep. They unnerve him as he plans his wedding to LA County Medical Examiner, Dr. Ming Li. 
When the psychic's life is threatened, Gabriel connects the dots back to the missing girl and realizes his cold case is burning hot. Someone doesn't want Nancy found and will kill to keep her hidden.
This is the fourth book in the award-winning series that Kirkus Reviews calls, "A skillfully woven tapestry of subplots and character development" and what The Huffington Post refers to as "frighteningly great." It stands alone, but if you read one, you'll want to read all four. I want to! 
If you're an avid reader and you've never attended Left Coast Crime, I'd recommend attending. The conference is unique. It caters as much to readers as it does to authors. It's a great way to meet new and favorite authors and score some free books. Next year the conference moves to the Seattle area in April.