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Lefty Award Nominees~San Francisco Schemin’

Today the Chicks are excited to host some of the 2026 nominees for the Lefty Awards, to be awarded at Left Coast Crime: San Francisco Schemin’. We’ve asked each nominee to share about how they come up with titles in general and/or for their nominated book.

Congrats, Lefty nominees!

Lefty Nominees for Best Humorous Mystery Novel 

Ellen Byron, Solid Gold Murder 

Sometimes a title magically appears, but coming up with one for Solid Gold Murder required a group effort. I think my agent Doug gets credit for the winner in this case. To be honest, I forgot this title was on the long list that I sent my editor. If I’d remembered, I might have removed it because I was concerned it would trigger memories of the Solid Gold Dancers from days of yore. I mentioned this to my editor, but he wasn’t concerned. And I trusted that the cover would alert readers to the fact that the book wasn’t a throwback to a kitschy 1980s syndicated TV show, which does appear to be the case because only one person has brought up Solid Gold. Now I want to see if I can find episodes of the show on the internet, and refresh my memory on some 80s dance moves!


BIO: Ellen Byron is a bestselling author, Anthony nominee, and recipient of multiple Agatha and Lefty awards for her humorous mysteries. She is also an award-winning playwright and non-award-winning writer of TV hits like Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly OddParents, but considers her most impressive achievement working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. Visit her at http://www.ellenbyron.com/.

Buy link: Solid Gold Murder

Jennifer J. Chow, Star-Crossed Egg Tarts  

Since I’d hyphenated and added a treat reference to my first book’s title (Ill-Fated Fortune), I figured I’d follow this pattern. Because I’d set the second book at a disastrous wedding and since I’m a Shakespeare fan, I suggested using Star-Crossed Tarts to my editor. But I guess “tarts” might have other connotations and can be too vague, so the marketing team came back with Star-Crossed Egg Tarts. P.S. Check out those heart-shaped egg tarts on the cover—too cute!

BIO: Jennifer J. Chow collects fortune cookie messages and writes cozy mysteries with enchanted food, like Star-Crossed Egg Tarts and the forthcoming Tell-Tale Treats.

Buy link: Star-Crossed Egg Tarts


Elizabeth Crowens, Bye Bye Blackbird  

I’ve been lucky regarding my titles. So far, I’ve gotten a gut feeling about the right one, and I’ve stuck with it. The hardest one, I think, was coming up with the title for the first book in my Golden Age of Hollywood mystery series. Our first few attempts were awkward, but my agent and I bounced a few off each other until we came up with the best one. Just like a bad cover, the wrong title can either fail to convey one’s subject matter properly or completely turn off a potential reader. Believe it or not, I keep a file card collection of titles I like. Even if I don’t wind up using them, perhaps they’ll serve as story prompts one of these days.

BIO: Elizabeth Crowens is bi-coastal between New York and Los Angeles, where she has worn many hats in the entertainment industry. She writes Golden Age of Hollywood mysteries with humor and alternate history and has a popular Caption Contest on Facebook. http://www.elizabethcrowens.com

Buy link for Lefty nominated book, Bye Bye Blackbird: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1685128408/

Catriona McPherson, Scot’s Eggs 

I thought this title was easy – SCOT’S EGGS is set at Easter and also Lexy’s trying to get pregnant. Late on, though, I woke in a sweat convinced that my American readers wouldn’t know what a Scotch egg is and so would miss the pun. I asked the audience at a reading and they certainly knew, but then I woke in a sweat convinced that anyone willing to turn out to hear me read was part of a self-eliminating bunch of specialised Brit-fans, steeped in Vera and The Baking Show. Anyway, the book’s out. (By the way, a Scotch egg is a boiled egg, wrapped in sausage meat, rolled in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried. Of course it’s deep-fried; it’s Scottish.) The next title is universal. Or, at least, I haven’t woken up in a sweat yet because it’s not.

BIO: Catriona McPherson writes all over the mystery genre: historical mysteries, psychothrillers, and these crime capers about a Scot-out-of-water in a “fictional” college town in Northern California.

Buy link: For a signed and custom dedicated copy of Scot’s Eggs from Avid Reader, Davis

Cindy Sample, All’s Faire in Love and Murder 

I have a very democratic method for choosing my book titles. My newsletter subscribers love to be included in my decision-making process so I hold contests to determine the titles of future books. I describe the concept of the book and ask for submissions. I normally receive around 200 submissions which I reduce to five or six finalists. Birthdays Are Murder and All’s Faire in Love and Murder are the first two books in my new Spindrift Cove Mystery series. The person who submits the winning title gets to be a character in the book. One winner is now the owner of a popular coffee shop so she plays a small role in every book in the series.

BIO: Cindy Sample is the author of the national bestselling nine-book Laurel McKay Humorous Mystery series set in the California Gold Country and the Spindrift Cove Mystery series set in Washington state. Cindy is a seven-time finalist for the LEFTY Award for Best Humorous Mystery, a three-time finalist for the SILVER FALCHION Award for best traditional mystery and best comedy, and a three-time finalist for the Chanticleer Murder & Mayhem award.

Buy link: All’s Faire in Love and Murder – Cindy Sample

Lefty Nominee for Best Mystery Novel 

Leslie Karst, Molten Death

Unlike for most of my mysteries, the title Waters of Destruction hit me as soon as I came up with the idea for the book. I was at my desk here in Hilo, looking out toward the Wailuku River only a block away. I can’t see the river itself from my window, but what I could see was the county’s orange helicopter hovering over the river. Uh, oh. That could mean only one thing: another person had gone missing in its dangerous currents. Although the river looks peaceful and inviting, it’s anything but. The scene was tragic, but it launched the idea for my next Orchid Isle mystery. And guess what “wailuku” means in English? You got it: waters of destruction.

BIO: Leslie Karst is the author of the Orchid Isle Mysteries, the Sally Solari mysteries, and the memoir, “Justice is Served: A Tale of Scallops, the Law, and Cooking for RBG.” When not writing, you’ll find her cooking, cycling, gardening, and observing cocktail hour promptly at five o’clock in either Hilo, Hawai‘i or Santa Cruz, California, where Leslie and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time.

Buy link: Waters of Destruction

Readers: What kind of titles do you enjoy?

52 thoughts on “Lefty Award Nominees~San Francisco Schemin’”

  2. I always enjoy a title with a good pun or bit of humor to it, but also appreciate one that gives me inspiration for the opening sentence in a book review. Congratulations to all of the nominees, there are some pretty great reads here!

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  3. Wow, that’s impressive! Good luck to all of you!! As for titles, sometimes they’re obvious before I start, but often they come to me as I’m writing. I like short books titles and long short-story titles.

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      1. I like the way shorter titles look on a book–easier to read, more room for my name and the cover picture. Long titles that describe, or pun, or lead into the story seem appropriate where space is usually not an issue. So, short stories. I got this idea from someone else, but don’t remember who, of course.

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    5. That’s amazing – it’s so true but no one but you seemed to have noticed. Take Stephen King: “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” and . . IT.

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    1. I’ve got a book called IN PLACE OF FEAR, that we shortened – my agent and me – to IPOF. Then I started calling it INTERNATIONAL PANCKAE OF FEAR and one time, in an interview, I geuinely couldn’t remember the real name.

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  6. Love how everyone comes up with titles! I appreciate the help we get from agents, readers, marketing–and even county rescue services!

    P.S. Using titles for story ideas is brilliant, Elizabeth!
    P.P.S. Catriona–I know what a Scotch egg is…but only found out within the last few years!

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  9. Thanks for including me along with all the Best Humorous noms! I’d totally forgotten about the Solid Gold Dancers, Ellen, and now I really have to find a clip on Youtube to relive that time. And love how your editors needed to add “egg” to “tart,” Jen–ha! And I had a delicious Scotch egg an an Oxford pub last year–though of course the pint of bitter I had with it helped it down.

    Congrats and good luck to you all!

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  10. Wow! This is an AMAZING group of women! I love a good title. I’m actually considering re-titling one of my books that I’m re-releasing because I have a pattern going with the other three (two yet-to-be-released). You’ve inspired me to keep digging!

    P.S. Ellen, I kinda wanted to be a Solid Gold Dancer and have my very own gold lame bodysuit with matching leg warmers and headbands.

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    2. Yours is the best method, Cindy. You must have great faith in your readers. MIne would end up being Booky McBookface.

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  13. I can’t write my first draft unless I have a title. Two of mine have been changed by the publishers. I really liked “Sweet Way to Go,” which became “Cardiac Arrest,” sigh. And my new book next month is “Buried in Shamrocks.” But I really, really preferred my original “Crimson in Clover.” (The book has a music theme and the body is found in a field.) My publisher didn’t think it sounded Irish enough. Still sad, ha.

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  17. I love all of you authors above and your books. I love the titles and how they work with the plot and am glad to know some of the back stories. Congrats on the nominations. Good luck to the winners, but in my “book” you are all winners.

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