LCC | Mystery fans and writers be afraid, be very afraid

This weekend, the conference known as Left Coast Crime hits Seattle like a loaded sap.

LCC, as it's known, is an annual gathering of mystery fans and writers — one of the nation's top such conventions. A regional alternative to big, international mystery conferences like Bouchercon, LCC welcomes folks from all over but emphasizes the Western states.

This year's shindig, the 17th, is the first held in Seattle since 1997. Starting today and continuing through Sunday, some 600 fans, writers and assorted other denizens of the mystery/crime/thriller world will converge on the Renaissance Seattle Hotel.

They're here to schmooze, snag autographed books and attend such events as an after-hours Seattle Underground tour and an auction (benefiting, among other things, the Seattle Public Library Foundation). They're also attending panels on a wide variety of grisly, educational and/or fun topics.

A love of books and sense of humor are required. Gun, candlestick, rope and lead pipe are optional but advised.

One prominent attendee is the event's toastmaster, Los Angeles writer Gary Phillips. Phillips' hard-boiled, L.A.-set books include his gritty series about Ivan Monk, one of the detective genre's first black private eyes. Phillips will be interviewed by local critic J. Kingston Pierce, the force behind the online mystery blog "The Rap Sheet" (http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/).

It should be good stuff — Phillips is funny, passionate and smart. (Also, by the way, gigantic. He has a promising career as a monumental statue if this writing gig doesn't pan out.) The topics will no doubt include the writer's community activism, graphic novels and forthcoming World War II book.

Also noteworthy is another Southern Californian, Gayle Lynds — a rare woman writing high-profile espionage thrillers. In addition to her own stuff (such as "The Last Spymaster"), she's written a number of books that continue the Robert Ludlum franchise (Ludlum died in 2001, but his name is on a continuing series of thrillers). She'll lead a tribute to her late husband, Dennis Lynds. He published some 80 novels under his own name, as Michael Collins and other pseudonyms, in the process winning just about every award possible in the mystery community. Dennis Lynds was scheduled to be LCC's guest of honor but passed away in 2005.

Among the many other writers on hand: S.J. Rozan, Harley Jane Kozak, Jane Isenberg, Naomi Hirahara, Peter Spiegelman, Dana Stabenow, David Hewson, Mary Daheim, Parnell Hall, Aaron Elkins, Camille Minichino, Barry Eisler and Meg Chittenden.

They and others will take part in an extensive series of panel discussions, including:

• Five panels on forensic science. The first, "CSI Don't Think So," features forensic experts Lee Lofland and Dr. Doug Lyle as well as writers Jan Burke and Eileen Dreyer. You know all those "CSI" shows? Well, Lofland and Lyle are the real thing. They'll tell some stories and debunk some misconceptions, such as one common among TV-saturated juries — jurors increasingly expect DNA and fingerprint analysis at every trial. Tain't possible in real life, the experts say.

• "Noir — It's the New Black." The darkly shadowed, tough-as-nails style known as noir has long had a core following, but recently it's been coming on especially strong. LCC's organizer, Seattle mystery maven Andi Shechter, says, "I think noir fiction is really coming back. A lot of new writers [are] redefining it for the 21st century." Tim Wohlforth, Con Lehane, Megan Abbott, Cornelia Read and Edward Wright hold forth.

• Want something lighter? Try "Like Watching Grass Grow — Mystery Improv While You Wait!" Thrill as Dana Stabenow, Christine Goff and Seattle's own Larry Karp receive a character, plot idea, or situation, and are forced to create on the spot.

• Or "The Liars' Panel," in which S.J. Rozan, Barry Eisler and local writer Meg Chittenden face an audience that is allowed to ask only trite questions ("Um, where do you get your ideas?"). The writers, in turn, cannot make stock replies but must let their imaginations run amuck.

Seattle writer Adam Woog's column on mystery and crime fiction appears on the second Sunday of the month in The Seattle Times' book review section.