– Photo by Deborah Morgan
By Kurt Anthony Krug
Legal News
For someone who had open heart surgery last June, award-winning author Loren D. Estleman shows no signs of slowing down.
Case in point: Estleman will sign copies of his three latest novels at Aunt Agatha’s, located at 213 S. Fourth Ave. in Ann Arbor, on Saturday, June 6, at 2 p.m.: last December’s “You Know Who Killed Me” (Forge $24.99), “The Long High Noon” (Forge $24.99), and “Detroit is Our Beat: Tales of the Four Horsemen” (Tyrus Books $24.99). The latter two debuted last month. In December, “The Sundown Speech” will be released. He also has two more books slated for a 2016 release.
“I’m feeling really good now. In fact, I feel better than I have in years. I went in for a tune-up; they must’ve used (General Motors) parts,” quipped Estleman, 62, of Whitmore Lake. “I have more energy now. I’m enjoying life more than I ever was. I’m back to my fighting weight; I’m below 200 pounds for the first time since the 1970s.”
“The Long High Noon,” which is a Western, was originally a short-story he penned for the 2010 anthology “Law of the Gun.”
“During the writing, I saw that the theme of the 50-year timespan offered enough meat for a novel,” said Estleman.
The plot centers on the decades-long enmity between cowboys Frank Farmer and Randy Locke. Frank gave Randy a permanent limp, whereas Randy shot off Frank’s ear. Ironically enough, both cannot remember why and how they started hating each other in the first place. With Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show a big success, the two gunfighters publicize their next duel and sell tickets for all to see it.
“I wanted to create a picture of the real so-called gunfighters of the West; most of those who gained reputations were working cowboys who made their livings non-violently and got into scrapes for reasons best known only to them.
The purpose was to establish an enmity so fierce, spread over so great a length of time, that for the two men it’s a form of a close friendship,” explained Estleman.
“Detroit is Our Beat” is an anthology of 10 short-stories featuring the characters from Estleman’s 1998 novel “Jitterbug.” Set in Detroit during World War II, most of the Detroit Police Dept. is fighting overseas, leaving it up to the four men of the Racket Squad – Lt. Max Zagreb, Sgt. Starvo Canal, Det. Burke and Det. McReary, collectively known as the “Four Horsemen” – to keep order. They battle draft-dodgers, gangsters, enemy saboteurs, and various racial and ethnic groups working together uneasily in defense plants run by Detroit’s burgeoning automotive industry.
“I needed four really tough guys, these legends called the Four Horsemen. They stayed with me ever since I wrote (“Jitterbug”). They had lot of gas left in them,” said Estleman. “They do a lot of stuff police don’t get away with anymore today (such as) not necessarily advising suspects of their rights, beating up suspects, keeping (suspects) away from their lawyers.”
Estleman has a fondness for that era, having seen many old black-and-white pulp noir movies from that time and having heard stories from his parents who were from that time.
“It’s like a Warner Brothers film noir movie from the 1940s – you get all that in one story. It was a time when women were called ‘dames’ and ‘tomatoes,’ where cops and mobsters wore 3-piece suits with fedoras, used Thompson sub-machine guns and blackjacks,” he said.
Admittedly, Estleman doesn’t know how women from that period came to be called “tomatoes,” but it was part of the jargon from that time and it’s prevalent in old movies.
He talked about the difference between writing novels and short-stories. The latter is somewhat tougher because the plot has to be tight and he has to have it outline due to the limited amount of space. According to Estleman, he can hide some of his mistakes inside of a novel due to its vast length, but he can’t do that with short-stories. The upside is short-stories don’t take as long to write or take up as much space as a novel does.
“It’s the difference between painting exquisite miniatures vs. great big murals. (The former) is small and precise, taking a great deal of concentration,” said Estleman. “When I finish a novel, I feel exhausted; when I finish a short-story, I feel a certain sense of satisfaction and I feel energized.”
“Killed Me” is Estleman’s 24th novel featuring his most famous creation: Amos Walker, a hard-boiled private detective out of Detroit. Amos is fresh out of rehab after overdosing on booze and Vicodin when he’s hired and deputized by Lt. Ray Henty, who commands the corrupt police-force of Iroquois Heights, a fictional Detroit suburb. Amos must solve the murder of Donald Gates, but his job becomes harder when billboards with Gates’ photo go up with a reward.
Amos has to go through dozens of anonymous calls, sifting the crank calls from the legitimate ones.
According to Estleman, the plot of this novel was inspired by an actual murder case in Brighton. Billboards were posted with the victim’s photo all over Livingston County.
“As I recall, no reward was offered and the case was resolved. I added the reward angle to demonstrate my theory that the best way to snarl up a homicide investigation beyond all hope of solution is to offer money for information,” he said.
December’s “The Sundown Speech,” occurring in Ann Arbor, marks the 25th Amos novel and Amos’ 35th anniversary, having debuted in 1980’s “Motor City Blues.”
“When I wrote that first novel, I wasn’t sure it was going to be a series. The first 10 books was one contract at a time; I never had a contract for more than one Amos Walker mystery until the 10th novel (1990’s “Sweet Women Lie”),” recalled Estleman.
From 1990-97, there were no new novels featuring Amos due to legal entanglements with a previous publisher. However, during that dry spell, Estleman used Amos in short-stories since he couldn’t use him in novels until 1997’s “Never Street,” the 11th book. In the character’s 35- year history, his books have been published by four publishers.
“Publishing wisdom says that when a series has run its course at one publisher, no other publisher will want to touch it. I’m never one to allow wisdom to stay in my way. I always moved to another publisher when the time came and the readers have been kind enough to follow me, which is great,” he said.
Amos was ingrained in Estleman from an early age. Part of the first generation to grow up with television, he watched hard-boiled detective movies from the 1930s and 1940s.
“Growing up in the country, I wasn’t in touch with the rest of the world. I thought they were modern-day stories. I grew up with that sentiment and mentality, so it was natural I started writing about that kind of thing,” he said. “Amos is a 1930s throwback. It’s a nice contrast when you take an anachronism like him and put him against the modern-day realistic background of Detroit and watch the fireworks. Nobody had done a hard-boiled detective in Detroit before.”
Estleman’s no stranger to Aunt Agatha’s, according to co-owner Robin Agnew. She’s looking forward to his return to her store this weekend.
“Loren is one of the most prolific writers I've ever met. This year alone, he’ll have four books out. The amazing thing is that all of them are of such high quality,” said Agnew. “In the Western universe, he couldn’t be more revered or honored; in the mystery universe, he’s considered one of the greatest living private eye writers. His prose is simply spectacular. Reading one of his books is an incredibly rich experience because I like to savor each sentence. It’s one of the perks of my bookselling career that I’ve gotten to know him and share so many of his books with readers.”
For more information about Estleman’s appearance at Aunt Agatha’s, call 734-769-1114.
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