'LILIAN's LAST DANCE' BOOK TOUR PASSES '30' MARK

At a recent reading, Cookie expounds. 

Home town reading in Columbus, Montana, entertains old and new friends; Buffalo Bill Center museum devotees turn out in numbers

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS
PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER

WE'VE DONE 33 readings and signings since the paperback of "Lilian's Last Dance" came out in February.
We've read in barns and bars, bistros and back yards, museums, art galleries, libraries and living rooms.
At a Billings, Montana, reading in the city library downtown, we played a couple songs from the musical version we hope to get off the ground down the road.
We've read for several hundred people and we've read for less than a dozen folks.  Most of the readings have 25 to 40 people -- a good average number. Our recent reading at the world renowned Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyo., attracted nearly 100. 

"Barbecue and Books"? Why not, here Cookie and Keller toast on the streets
of Absarokee, Montana, during a recent all-day Cook-off.

We've never failed to have an interesting -- and interested -- group. We are happy to read for as many people as show up.  It's difficult to predict!
AT A RECENT reading in Powell, Wyoming, we had only a dozen people (we were competing against a football game.)  But we read for an enthusiastic group and answered questions while people munched shortbread cookies.  Another reading -- in my home town of Columbus, Montana -- featured popcorn in a friend's back yard. We made new friends and were happy to see a few people from earlier times.
The Cody museum reading was during a luncheon -- with nearly 100 old and new friends. We've read in barns in small, country venues, in restaurants and bars.
We go where interest is.  Once this summer, we read a few snippets at a table in a rural restaurant near us in Nye, Montana, when someone asked.  Such an impromptu request is not to be ignored! (The woman said she'd just finished reading "Lilian's Last Dance" and wanted to hear my voice read a passage about the Montana cowboy who sweeps the French title character off her feet.)

Red Lodge Books and Tea welcomed book lovers to a recent "Lilian...." reading.

WE READ at a fancy cocktail party in Oakland, with a view of the Bay Bridge.
We read at a country club in La Jolla, Calif., while well tanned and sleekly toned people munched canapes and planned plastic surgeries. We've read at several patio parties -- one in San Diego hosted by my Jazzercise teacher. We've read at libraries -- including Phoenix, Ariz., and Miles City, Montana -- and at several art galleries and

Nick, one of our two Yorkshire terriers, is at home
before a reading in Hardin, Montana.

museums, including the beautiful Big Horn County Historical Museum in Hardin.
In Red Lodge, we met at Red Lodge Books and Tea, to a small but enthusiastic group who sipped herbal tea and enjoyed homemade muffins.
AT THE recent Absarokee Cook-off, we were asked to set up a booth.  We did, and sold a couple dozen books, while people wandered about the food stalls set up on the street, sampling barbecue, sipping beer and  talking about haying and cattle.
Sometimes our Yorkies, Nick and Nora, are invited to the readings.  Other times, we find sitters to watch them -- museum ticket takers and librarians have been accommodating.
Let us know if we can read for your book club or civic group, by calling us at 406 661-2910, or writing: lilianslastdance@gmail.com