Remembering Elmore “Dutch” Leonard

The death of Elmore Leonard this past summer was a shock that took everyone by surprise. He was a mighty Oak in the Detroit lit scene, one of the greatest crime novelists of our time and nation. He was solid, like part of the city. It seemed he would always be around. His roots here ran deep as we watched him and applauded each new novel, film adaptation (even the bad ones), and the mounting accolades that came.

He was the epitome of cool. Laid back, unpretentious, never taking his fame to heart. He took everything in stride. He was cool, an intense outside observer of details. The small stuff was what he noticed. Small things mattered. He used the minimum of language to maximum effect. One of his often repeated phrases and sign-offs was Take it easy. He used that line a lot. Leonard was always takin’ it easy. He was a natural.

Late in his life, the television production of Justified, based on the short story “Fire in the Hole”, renewed his excitement for writing. He ran wild with ideas. His publisher began reprinting older out-of-print books, many of them pulp Westerns from the 1950s. Like a great surfer he rode the wave. Before he died, he worked on a second novel about his character Raylan, the US Marshall featured in Justified. The novel was later finished by his son Peter.

“There’s a wicked backbeat in his urban novels that pulses through cities like Miami, Detroit, New Orleans and San Juan… “The bad guys are the fun guys,” Mr. Leonard said in a New York Times interview. “The only people I have trouble with are the so-called normal types. Their language isn’t very colorful, and they don’t talk with any certain sound.”

U.S. Senator Carl Levin made a statement on the house floor on September 17, 2013 in memory of Elmore Leonard. He said: “Mr. President, when Michigan novelist Elmore Leonard passed away on August 20, the world lost an irreplaceable voice, a witty creator of unlikely and unforgettable characters who, like their creator, knew the value of brevity.”

Leonard’s novels took place in the American West, in the Everglades, in the Horn of Africa or the streets of Havana, but they always carried a little of hometown Detroit. His protagonists were tough and gruff, but also loveable, flawed, and good-hearted. Midwestern folks with few words and bold actions. And like his hometown, Leonard’s writing was without pretense or formality. “If it sounds like writing,” he said, “I rewrote it.”

The New York Times described Leonard as “A Man of Few, Yet Perfect, Words.” In 2001, he wrote for The Times a short essay on his tips for writers, titled, “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle.” The aim, he said, was to “remain invisible when I’m writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what’s taking place in the story.”  Senator Levin also said, “His rules for writing are useful for anyone who writes and wants to be read, and I ask unanimous consent that they be placed in the record. The world has lost a great writer. I have lost a friend.”

On his process of writing, Leonard compiled his hard-and-fast guidelines in book-form: “These are rules I’ve picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I’m writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what’s taking place in the story. If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules. Still, you might look them over.” —Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing.

Peter Leonard, Elmore Leonard, and U.S. Senator Carl Levin meeting for the first time at Book Beat’s 30th anniversary party in August 2012.

At Book Beat’s 30th Anniversary party in 2012, we invited Elmore and Peter Leonard to sign books along with about 30 other authors. We hadn’t heard back and didn’t expect them, but It was a pleasant surprise when they stopped by. “Of course we were coming,” he said, “where do ya want me?” It was the first time Senator Carl Levin came to the bookstore and the first time he met the great author. We steered the Senator over to the wobbly old card table where “Dutch” sat. They shook hands and greeted each other like long lost pals. Dutch was always sincere, a darkly humorous and humble man, there for his friends and the public that loved him. 

As you wander through those dark, badass, often hilarious, fast paced novels, the realism and character voices will hold you spellbound, eyes glued to the page. His dialogue was pure music. Martin Amis once called him “a literary genius who writes re-readable thrillers.”

Art patron and founding member of MOCAD, Julia Reyes Taubman, introduced Leonard to Book Beat. Julia and Elmore became tight friends, secret accomplices. While she worked on her book of photographs, Detroit: 138 Square Miles they both stopped by the store. We discussed hard-boiled writers like Jim Thompson, Charles Willeford, and David Goodis. Leonard was Taubman’s neighbor and in her persistence she convinced him to write an introduction for her book. According to The New Yorker, she “spent years chasing Elmore Leonard, to persuade him to write a forward.

Hearing Leonard speak in his soft gravelly voice, telling tales about other writers and Hollywood connections was a delight that many can recall who’ve attend his signings. His memories would flood over with fascinating anecdotes and laughter. NPR did a wonderful 5 minute life story, combined with interview material, where he said, “People ask me about my dialogue, I say, ‘Don’t you hear people talking?’ That’s all I do.”

Elmore wrote a total of 46 novels, an amazing legacy to explore. He created a vital new landscape for American crime fiction. Pick up any of his novels, especially a good one like Freaky Deaky, Out of Sight, or Get Shorty and dig right in. Its easy. Reading Leonard books is simple, just like eating a rich chocolate cake. You never want it to stop. And remember, as Dutch would say, Take it easy.