Earlier this week the organizers of Left Coast Crime announced the nominees for the 2015 Lefty Awards.
In this post, we're presenting the five titles nominated for the Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery. Which is your favorite to win?
The Good, the Bad, and the Emus by Donna Andrews
A Meg Langslow Mystery (17th in series)
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Meg's long-lost paternal grandfather, Dr. Blake, has hired Stanley Denton to find her grandmother Cordelia. Dr. Blake was reunited with his family when he saw Meg's picture — she's a dead ringer for Cordelia — and now Stanley has found a trail to his long-lost love in a small town less than an hour's drive away. He convinces Meg to come with him to meet her, but unfortunately, the woman they meet is Cordelia's cousin — Cordelia died several years ago, and the cousin suspects she was murdered by her long-time neighbor.
Stanley and Meg agree to help track down the killer and get justice for Cordelia. Grandfather even has perfect cover — he will come to stage a rescue of the feral emus and ostriches (escaped from an abandoned farm) that infest this town. He dashes off to organize the rescue — which will, of course, involve most of Meg's family and friends in Caerphilly. But then, the evil neighbor is murdered, and not only Cordelia's cousin but also the entire contingent of emu-rescuers, who have had conflict with the neighbor, are suspects. Only Meg and the cousin — who seems to share a lot of telling traits with Meg — can find the real killer and clear the air.
— The Good, the Bad, and the Emus by Donna Andrews
Herbie's Game by Timothy Hallinan
A Junior Bender Mystery (4th in series)
Publisher: Soho Crime
Read our review of Herbie's Game by Timothy Hallinan on Mysterious Reviews.
It's everyday business when Wattles, the San Fernando Valley's top "executive crook," sets up a hit. He establishes a chain of criminals to pass along the instructions and the money, thereby ensuring that the hitter doesn't know who hired him. Then one day Wattles finds his office safe open and a single item missing: the piece of paper on which he has written the names of the crooks in the chain. When people associated with the chain begin to pop up dead, the only person Wattles can turn to to solve his problem is Junior Bender, professional burglar and begrudging private eye for crooks.
But Junior already knows exactly who took Wattles's list: the signature is too obvious. It was Herbie Mott, Junior's burglar mentor and second father — and when Junior seeks him out to discuss the missing list, he finds Herbie very unpleasantly murdered. Junior follows the links in the chain back toward the killer, and as he does, he learns disturbing things about Herbie's hidden past. He has to ask himself how much of the life he's lived for the past twenty years has been of his own making, and how much of it was actually Herbie's game.
— Herbie's Game by Timothy Hallinan
January Thaw by Jess Lourey
A Mira James, Murder-by-Month Mystery (9th in series)
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Private-eye-in-training Mira James loves Minnesota's crisp January days, as long as she can spend them in the arms of hunky Johnny Leeson. But when Mrs. Berns's erratic Zamboni driving uncovers an icebound dead man, Mira's cold-weather tranquility threatens to melt away.
With a frozen body in the lake and a freak January thaw descending on town, neither Johnny nor generous portions of high-octane comfort food are enough to ease Mira's frazzled nerves. There's big trouble brewing in Battle Lake. And if Mira can't figure out who's behind it, the next time she feels sub-zero temperatures, she may be sporting a toe tag in the town morgue.
— January Thaw by Jess Lourey
Dying for a Dude by Cindy Sample
A Laurel McKay Mystery (4th in series)
Publisher: Cindy Sample Books
When Laurel McKay agrees to perform with the Sassy Saloon Gals during Hangtown's annual Wagon Train parade, her greatest fear is a wardrobe malfunction. Before she can lace up her corset, a 150-year-old skeleton turns up on her grandmother's property. Did Laurel's great-great-grandfather murder his mining partner? Gran insists not and wants Laurel to prove it.
Then the body of a prominent citizen is discovered shortly after Laurel's ex-husband decked him. When her detective boyfriend throws her ex in jail for murder, Laurel, with the help of her zany friends and family, must find the real killer.
Juggling two kids, a new boss, a wilting romance, and murder investigations would be enough to turn any woman into a chocolate addict. Extra pounds are the least of Laurel's worries as she and her Mustang-driving octogenarian grandmother try to unearth some long-buried secrets before the killer adds their names to Hangtown's bloody history.
— Dying for a Dude by Cindy Sample
Suede to Rest by Diane Vallere
A Polyester Monroe, Material Witness Mystery (1st in series)
Publisher: Berkley
With her career as a dress designer in shreds, Polyester Monroe is looking forward to a fresh start. But as it all unfolds, the pattern to a new beginning looks a lot like murder …
When Poly Monroe was little, she loved playing in her family's textile store. But after a fatal family tragedy, Land of A Thousand Fabrics was boarded up and Poly never expected to see the inside again. Now, as inheritor of the long-shuttered shop, she's ready to restore the family business. However her two new kittens, Pins and Needles, aren't the ones causing a snag in her plans …
Not everyone wants Poly back in San Ladrón, especially a powerful local developer pressuring her to sell — and leave town fast. But even when the threats turn deadly, she's not ready to bolt. Because Poly is beginning to suspect that the murder behind the shop is tied to a mystery in her family's unsettled past that she's determined to solve … before her own life is left hanging by a thread.
— Suede to Rest by Diane Vallere
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