Having started with westerns before in the early fifties moving into crime fiction and thrillers and being rather prolific (see below) there's no way I'm going to be out chasing Elmore Leonard's collected works (there's not enough room on the bookshelves) but I reckon you can confidently grab any of his recent work and settle down for a comfortable read that'll keep ypu turning the pages until you get to the end.
Consistently excellent work for what it is - finely honed enterainment that doesn't weigh the reader down with metaphysical notions.
Read:
Bandits (1987) where the good guys are an unlikely combination of reformed jewel thief, a beautiful radical ex-nun in designer jeans, an ex-cop who's spent time inside, an elderly bank-robber, recently paroled and desperate for sex and, interestingly, the Nicaraguan Contra bad guy's hit man. The bad guys, visiting New Orleans to raise funds for the anti-Sandinistas resistance are in the process of having a good time while they attempt to do away with Nicaraguan beauty Amelita, former lover ofColonel Dagoberto 'Bertie' Godoy. She's a leper and is suspected of infecting the Colonel with the disease, and when ex-con Jack Delaney is dispatched to a leprosarium to pick up her body she turns out to be alive and under the protection of Sister Lucy, the ex-nun with ideas about spiriting away the funds Bertie has raised from a number of sympathisers, including Lucy's father and use the money to help the lepers. Not Leonard's best, but he's netter than most of his notional peers, so even a lesser work is comfortably ahead of the pack,
A 2001 comedy film of the same name was meant to be an adaptation of Leonard's novel but after a substantial rewrite bears little resemblance to Leonard's book.
- Road Dogs (2009), which reprises bankrobber Jack Foley from Out of Sight in a neat little double cross drama involving the millionaire hustler from La Brava. Leonard’s extensive back catalogue militates against an attempt to buy ‘em all, but the listing here will help keep track of things...
On My Shelves,
Get Shorty (1990)
Be Cool (1999)