Robin Agnew
This past Thursday, we co-hosted an event at the Ann Arbor District Library, one that had literally taken years (at least in our imaginations) to put together. The event featured Loren D. Estleman interviewing Elmore Leonard and his son, writer Peter Leonard. For years, since our store is near Detroit, we have longed to host Elmore Leonard, who is notoriosly loyal to his "home" store, the Borders in Birmingham, Michigan.
Once a few years back he gave the lecture at the Hopwood Awards at the University of Michigan, and we knew his driver - we tried to get him to veer the car over our way to get him to stop by. And he and Loren Estleman, a frequent Aunt Agatha's visitor, are old friends. The fates never aligned, however.
When we booked Peter for last year's Kerrytown BookFest, that was of course an entirely different thing. He was a new author, a lovely person, and we were delighted to have him be part of the day. About a month or so later Jamie sold books for Peter at an event at the Eastern Michigan University Library, and Peter asked when it was over if he could sign some stock for us when his new book came out. Of course Jamie told him that we would be delighted to host an event for him. His comment: "Can I bring Elmore?"
I immediatley contacted the library as I knew there was no way we would have enough space, and the library was about as excited as we were. I then contacted Loren Estleman to see if he'd be willing to interview father and son, and of course he was. All three had new books out by the time of the event. The night of the event people started to arrive a good hour and a half early - the first people to arrive had driven from Niagra Falls. They were a little giddy (nice people, I chatted with them a bit while they were waiting to get their books signed).
It was a great event because none of them really talked about their latest books as at a normal book event - it was more of a conversation between father and son writers, and between two old friends who share many similarities of sensibility. It evolved as they talked about movies made from Elmore's books (he dislikes Be Cool) and about the one crime book all three agreed was the best ever: The Friends of Eddie Coyle. Elmore also indicated his annoyance that his editor doesn't like the title for his next book, though it sounds like it's going Elmore's way. My favorite part of the evening, though, may have been when Peter got out of his briefcase some old car ads from the 60's that his Dad had written and he read some of them aloud. They were wonderful - though his Dad asked him "Why did you save those?" To me they tied Mr. Leonard even more firmly to the history of Detroit.
The signing line was very long and all three men were extremely patient and gracious as people worked their way through it. At the end Peter said: "You've signed way more books than that!' Elmore's reply: "That was plenty." This event was definitely one of the highlights of bookselling for us, but it's almost like Christmas being over. What could possibly ever top it?
