I wrote this article about Denise Lutz for the November issue of Downtown NewsMagazine, Birmingham, Michigan.
The saying “Jack of all trades, master of none,” applies to many individuals but not to former Detroiter Denise Lutz. Lutz excels at everything. Friends describe her as a Renaissance woman for she is a photographer, equestrian, philanthropist, pilot, animal advocate and car aficionado.
And wait. . .there’s more. She just added published author to this lofty list. Lutz recently returned to her hometown to celebrate her first novel, Thumbs. She debuted the novel along with a landscape photography exhibit at the Robert Kidd Gallery in downtown Birmingham. Lutz’s “Heaven on Earth” exhibit featured 20 signed limited-edition photographs shot in Michigan, Kentucky and Switzerland. Always charity minded, she donated the proceeds of the art sale to local photojournalist Linda Solomon’s nonprofit, Pictures of Hope, helping children express their thoughts with a camera.
According to Lutz, Birmingham was the perfect venue for this celebration. “Detroit is my roots, and I used to work around the corner from the gallery,” she said.
Although she currently lives in Kentucky on historic Glen Lake Farm, Motown is part of her soul. Lutz grew up on the tree-lined streets of Lathrup Village with extended family nearby. Her idyllic childhood included summers Up North in a log cabin on a lake enjoying all sorts of outdoor activities, including horseback riding. Her interest in aviation began at an early age as her dad would fly the family to the cabin. After graduating from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, she entered the advertising world, working local stalwarts W.B. Doner and J.Walter Thompson, becoming the first female art director in Detroit. Then, when she married auto executive Bob Lutz, of GM and Ford fame, she became the quintessential corporate wife wearing ballgowns, meeting dignitaries and fundraising for nonprofits.
After her divorce from Lutz, she wanted a different locale and decided to move to Kentucky to be closer to family, create her horse farm and begin a new life chapter.
“I decided I have a lot to say and share, and I knew how to write a bit, having been in advertising,” she said.
She began writing nonfiction with a partner and decided to break out on her own with a novel. A book agent questioned her fiction writing skills. Never shying away from a challenge, Lutz attended writing seminars in New York and programs at the Carnegie Center for Literacy in Lexington.
“I knew I loved outrageous, quirky characters,” she said. Thumbs, a comic thriller, tells the story of sweet Catharine, married to the inventor of sexting, who blackmails personnel. All goes awry with laugh-aloud antics when Catherine becomes an assassin’s bait.
“Denise Lutz has the lightning-fast mind, razor-sharp wit and fabulously dark sense of humor that would make masters of the craft from Hitchcock to Hiaasen giggle admirably,” said Erin Chandler, of Rabbit House Press, the book’s publisher.
This is certainly a debut novel as Lutz has many plot lines from her professional and personal life and looks forward to more publications. She describes herself as independent, appreciative and someone who listens to her own voice.
“I am curious and grateful for the blessings and strengths that I have, and for the beauty in life, the good friends, family and faith that sustain us through those events we cannot control.”
Photo: Laurie Tennent
Motown Savvy 