Robin Agnew
We had a celestial event the other evening, an event I had almost forgotten about in the whirl of preparation for the Kerrytown BookFest, which is next Sunday. Our store is full of boxes of books written by the authors attending that festival, but I agreed to squeeze Mr. Elias in when his St. Martin's publicist gave me a call.
Then she sent me the books, which were a delightful surprise. Hopefully lots of you will hear of Gerald Elias eventually as his book are really wonderful. They're really traditional mysteries set in the classical music world, not surprisingly, as Mr. Elias is himself a concert violinst.
I approached the books also with some trepidation. Veering over from another career doesn't automatically assure that you'll also be a good writer (unless you were already a journalist, and there are certainly many examples from that field). Writing is a craft like any other craft. However, Mr. Elias is a very skillful writer. His books have narrative drive, a great main character and a wonderful setting. Plus he has that indefinable "something" which marks a natural writer. A turn of phrase, a use of prsoe that's particularly deft. He seems to be the real deal.
At dinner he talked about his affection for Donna Leon and the fact that long rehearsals (he's the associate concertmaster with the Utah symphony) gave his mind freedom to plan his books, as do long car drives. He was toting his "fiddle", a surprisingly casual appellation for his beautiful 18th century instrument.
Part of the reason I had agreed to host the event was that his publicist told me he'd be playing his violin. I figured that would help me reach out to the musical community in some way, but several of my book club members were also intrigued when I told them about the event.
On the actual evening, the store filled up with book club members, as well as various musicians Gerry had known for a long time, including a woman he'd gone to college with. He seemed to relax as his friends turned up: his world was in place. He talked for awhile, a typical author talk, but then he got out his violin.
It was completely magical. My lack of knowledge when it comes to classical music is fairly vast, but when Gerry picked up his violin it simply didn't matter. In our crowded store, you could have heard a pin drop. It was a shame when he had to stop playing. It was one of those moments that make me extremely grateful to do what I do, and that I get to meet the people I get to meet.
It was also a "perfect" event - we sold every book!
