The Dickens of Detroit

Novelist Elmore Leonard is a Detroiter and fiercely proud of it. Many of his stories are at least in part based here, and he's always very careful to get his facts straight. Unlike, say, the TV show Detroit 1-8-7, there are no made-up newspapers, street names or colleges. Leonard has lived here for most of his life, and he's traveled the streets at night with the Detroit Police. He does his homework.

Now 85 years old, Leonard lives in Bloomfield Village with his wife, Christine. His house, with its gated, arched driveway, is predictably impressive though not obnoxious, and it's in keeping with the area. His office is airy and sparse, set up for writing with few distractions. There's no computer; Leonard's completely old-school, writing his novels longhand, and then writing them out again using an electric typewriter. He has no desire to learn how to use a computer, explaining that going from a manual typewriter to an electric was a big enough change.

And if you consider it, that's a lot of longhand writing and storytelling. Over his 60-year career, Elmore "Dutch" Leonard has penned 44 novels, 21 of which have been adapted into feature films. He's a master of dialogue, a fact he's very proud of. Watch Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino's superb adaption of Leonard's Rum Punch novel) or Out of Sight (featuring one of George Clooney's best performances as suave bank robber Jack Foley) again, because most of the dialogue you hear is lifted directly from Leonard's pages. He molds his characters carefully, giving them a life and a soul. He is, in short, a master of his craft.

The recipient of three honorary doctorates is also a talkative man, though not entirely warm when faced with a journalist and photographer in his own home — a scheduling snafu led to some confusion and he thought this conversation was to be via phone.

He thinks hard about what he says and reveals only what he wants to and little more, but he's also witty and charming. When he does say something amusing, he'll slightly grin, preferring to drag from a Virginia Slims and move on. He's an animated conversationalist, gesticulates with his arms to accent, sometimes rising distractedly from his chair to retrieve something from a shelf that's unrelated to the interview, or leaf through a pile of papers when caught by a thought or idea. His crossed legs often switch sides quickly. In this context his words and body language say that after six decades of writing, he's lost no passion for his art or desire to work. His most recent novel, Djibouti, was published last fall by HarperCollins.

Metro Times: You moved from New Orleans to Detroit when you were 9 years old?

Elmore Leonard: There were other places first. New Orleans, Dallas, Oklahoma City, back to Dallas, Detroit, Memphis, back to Detroit, all before 1934. My father was with General Motors, and he was with different zonal offices all around the country.

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