The Son Also Rises

With the publication of his first novel, Peter Leonard hopes to take a page from his famous father's success

Alan Fisk

The wind is whipping up Old Woodward Avenue in Birmingham as the heavy door
next to Forté restaurant comes into view.
Inside, about a thousand steps lead up a shadowy staircase to the second-floor offices of the Leonard Mayer & Tocco advertising agency.
There’s no receptionist in sight, so a visitor wanders until Peter Leonard calls out from his office. He sits behind a Texas-size slab of blond wood and smiles. Ruddy-faced, sandy-haired, mustachioed, and wearing an open-collar blue work shirt, he doesn’t look like part of a literary dynasty.
But when you’re the son of famed writer Elmore “Dutch” Leonard and your first novel is about to be published at age 56, you’d better expect some comparisons. “Elmore is the draw and I feel fine about it,” Peter says.
His thriller, Quiver, will be published this month by Thomas Dunne Books, part of St. Martin’s Press. Set largely in northern Michigan and metro Detroit, it’s the story of Luke McCall, who accidentally kills his stepfather while bowhunting. The plot, as critics like to say, thickens as son and mother, Kate, attract the attention of bounty hunters and end up in a bloody confrontation with a gang of killers.

>>> There is more to this story. If you wish to continue reading, please pick up the current issue of Hour Detroit at your local newsstand, or check back when the current issue leaves the newsstands to see the rest of this article.