Novels:

1) The Bounty Hunters (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1953) [western]

[Set: Southern Arizona.
--Bounty Hunters: He is a legend in the rugged Arizona Territory - a U.S. cavalry-turned-army scout - and the only man alive who can bring in the fierce Mimbre Apache called Soldado Viejo. But for David Flynn, tracking down an elusive Indian with a price on his head south of the border is a dangerous business...especially when a cunning outlaw and a murderous bounty hunter dog his path. Now Flynn's riding hard for trouble on a bloody trail of treachery and slaughter in a lawless land where a man's got to watch his back against friend and enemy, red man and white man alike. And if he's Flynn - on the deadliest mission of his career - that means a one-way trip into a sultry desert hell...where the hunter is about to become the hunted...and where one man's struggle for justice has just erupted in the battle of his life....
--David Flynn, a U.S. Cavalry-turned-army scout, is the only man alive who can bring in the fierce Mimbre Apache called Soledad Viejo. Riding hard on a bloody road of treachery and slaughter in a lawless land, Flynn's on the deadliest mission of his career.]

(Охотники за головами)

2) The Law at Randado (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1954) [western] Phil Sundeen-1

[--Phil Sundeen thinks Deputy Sheriff Kirby Frye is just a green local kid with a tin badge. And when the wealthy cattle baron's men drag two prisoners from Frye's jail and hang them from a high tree, there's nothing the untried young lawman can do about it. But Kirby's got more grit than Sundeen and his hired muscles bargained for. They can beat the boy and humiliate him, but they can't make him forget the jog he has sworn to do. The cattleman has money, fear, and guns on his side, but Kirby Frye's the law in this godforsaken corner of the Arizona Territories. And he'll drag Sundeen and his killers straight to hell himself to prove it.
--Kirby Frye was a local boy come home again - with a badge and a reputation in some circles. But to the men with money in Randado, Kirby Frye meant nothing. Twelve upstanding citizens, prompted by a hard-drinking, free-spending cattleman, hanged two of Kirby's prisoners behind his back. Then they laughed in his face. Frye was young, but he was no fool. He took their taunts, took their hired men's blows, and waited. For with a hotheaded sheriff from Tucson and a breed tracker on Kirby's side, it would be three men against many. And what they didn't know about Kirby Frye was that three against many was good enough for him--good enough to go up against their guns, good enough to bring the law back to Randado, and good enough to drive a rich man to his knees.]

(Законы в Рандадо)

[--It was supposed to be impossible. No man could break out of the brutal convict labor camp at Five Shadows. Until they locked up Bowen. He was like dynamite--charged to go off, to explode out of that desert hell so he could clear his name. Already the deadly trackers have caught him, dragged him back through the mesquite and rocks, beat him and left him to rot in the punishment cell. But they can't stop Bowen. He's a different breed, a man who will go to any extreme to escape. Any extreme.
--No one breaks out of the brutal convict labor camp at Five Shadows - but Corey Bowen is ready to die trying. They framed him to put him in there, and beat him bloody and nearly dead after his last escape attempt. He'll have help this time - from a lady with murder on her mind and a debt to pay back. Because freedom isn't enough for primed dynamite like Bowen. And he won't leave the corrupt desert hell behind him until a few scores are settled...permanently.]

[--Ingram Rescuing a frightened woman from an attack by a one-armed man, Confederate soldier Paul Cable learns that his lands have been taken over by the Union army, and vows to regain his property or die trying.
--A one-armed man stood before Denaman's store, and the girl named Luz was scared. Paul Cable could see that from the rise two hundred yards away, just as he could see that everything had changed while he was away fighting for the Confederacy. He just didn't know how much. Cable and his family rode down to Denaman's store and faced the one-armed man. Then they heard the story, about the Union Army and two brothers--and a beautiful woman--who had taken over Cable's spread and weren't going to give it back. For Paul Cable the war hadn't ended at all. Among the men at Saber River, some would be his enemies, some might have been his friends, but no one was going to take his future away--not with words, not with treachery, and not with guns.]

[*Hombre named one of the 25 best western novels of all time by Western Writers of America, 1977.
--Set in Arizona mining country, Hombre is the story of a stagecoach held up by outlaws. One of the passengers, John Russell, is a white man who was raised partly by Apache Indians, and knows first hand the indignities suffered by them at the hands of the whites who control the reservations. He has also learned to live and fight like an Apache. Combatting the outlaws, Russell finds himself faced with the decision of whether to save only himself or to save his fellow white passengers. John Russell becomes the key player in a drama examining man's responsibilities to his fellow man, acted out on a dusty stage in America's Wild West.
--John Russell has been raised as an Apache. Now he's on his way to live as a white man. But when the stagecoach passengers learn who he is, they want nothing to do with him -- until outlaws ride down on them and they must rely on Russell's guns and his ability to lead them out of the desert. He can't ride with them, but they must walk with him or die.]

(Омбре: Отважный стрелок)

[Set: Michigan (Thumb Area)
[--Playmate of the Day. Jack Ryan has a man's fists, a boy's mind, and the cunning of an ex-con. Nancy Hayes has a woman's sleek moves and the instincts of a shark. Now, in a Michigan resort town, a rich man wants Jack gone and Nancy for himself. For Ryan the choice is clear: Nancy's promises of pleasure, her crazy, thrill-seeking schemes of breaking into homes, shooting guns, and maybe stealing a whole lot of money are driving him half mad. But there's one thing Ryan doesn't know yet: his new playmate is planning the deadliest thrill of all.
  Razor-sharp and wholly unpredictable, The Big Bounce is an Elmore Leonard classic - a sly, beguiling story of a man, a woman, and a nasty little crime.]

Большая кража.
Под прицелом.

[--Dual Meaders, Doc Taulbee, and their gang of city slickers set out to steal thousands of dollars worth of homemade Kentucky Whiskey from Son Martin, a hell-raising country boy, during the midst of Prohibition.]

Без правил.

[--They laughed at Roberto Valdez and then ignored him. But when a dark-skinned man was holed up in a shack with a gun, they sent the part-time town constable to deal with the problem - and made sure he had no choice but to gun the fugitive down. Trouble was, Valdez killed an innocent man. And when he asked for justice - and some money for the dead man's woman - they beat Valdez and tied him to a cross. They were still laughing when Valdez came back. And then they began to die...
--The shotgun went off aimed at the wrong man, held in the wrong man's hands. A crowd had gathered to drink and laugh and shoot down at the old shack where a supposed killer was hiding out. Then Bob Valdez, humble town constable and stage-line shotgun rider, walked down to the shack. Moments later Valdez had killed an innocent man, and the crowd, sapped of its bloodlust, wandered off. But for Bob Valdez it was far from over. He wanted the wealthy landowner who had engineered the scene to give the dead man's woman money for a wrongful death. They laughed at Bob Valdez. They taunted him and beat him until Valdez had no choice but to come back to them again. Only this time Valdez was coming with three guns--three guns and the will to teach a rich man's army how costly atonement can get.]

(Вальдес идет)

[--A hellhole like Yuma Prison does all sorts of things to a man. Mostly it makes him want to escape. For two men facing life sentences - Harold Jackson, the only black man behind the walls, and Raymond San Carlos, an Apache halfbreed - a breakout seemed nigh on impossible. That is, until the law gave them two choices: rot in a cell, or track down and bring back the five most ruthless men in Arizona.
--The hell called Yuma Prison can destroy the soul of any man. And it's worse for those whose damning crime is the color of their skin. The law says Chiricahua Apache Raymond San Carlos and black-as-night former soldier Harold Jackson are murderers, and they'll stay behind bars until they're dead and rotting. But even in the worst place on Earth, there's hope. And for two hard and hated inmates - first enemies, then allies by necessity - it waits at the end of a mad and violent contest ... on a bloody trail that winds toward Arizona's five most dangerous men.
--For two men facing life sentences in the Yuma Prison, Harold Jackson, the only black man behind the walls, and half-Apache Raymond San Carlos — a breakout seems impossible. Then, the law gives them two choices: rot in a cell or track down and bring back the five most ruthless men in Arizona.]

[*Leonard wrote the novelization of his screenplay after "Mr. Majestyk" was produced as a movie in 1974.
--A Vietnam veteran and trained killer, Vincent Majestyk finds peace as a farmer, growing melons, until the Mob, seeing him as an easy mark, tries to make him a victim in an extortion plot.]

(Мистер Маджестик)

[--Detroit businessman Harry Mitchell had had only one affair in his twenty-two years of happy matrimony. Unfortunately someone caught his indiscretion on film and now wants Harry to fork over one hundred grand to keep his infidelity a secret. And if Harry doesn't pay up, the blackmailer and his associates plan to press a lot harder -- up to and including homicide, if necessary. But the psychos picked the wrong pigeon for their murderous scam. Because Harry Mitchell doesn'tget mad...he gets even.]

(Получите 52 тысячи)

[--The author of Get Shorty, Elmore Leonard writes of a world that is all-too-real, too frighteningly formidable. In Swag, he takes us down the streets of summertime Detroit where life is not so sweet - unless you're handy at crime. His three "heroes" boast an expertise in things illegal. They conjure up a plan that will reap a tax-free $100,000. All it takes is an armed robbery and the street-savvy to get away with it. It's a brilliant caper with a finely timed finale.
   "Elmore Leonard can write circles around almost anybody active in the crime novel today." (The New York Times)
--Synopsis: There aren't any textbooks on armed robbery. The only way to learn is through experience, and small-time crooks Frank and Stick are determined to do as much learning on the job as possible. In 1970s' Detroit they embark on a crime spree, holding up liquor stores and supermarkets. They invent their 'Ten Golden Rules For Successful Armed Robbery' and for a short time the cash is rolling in. But then they bend their own rules, and it looks like trouble is heading their way.
***Comments:
--I always found it intriguing that Leonard will use the same last name for different characters. For instance, Ryan is used more than once:
one is Stick's partner, another is the lead character of Unknown Man #89. (Mark Sullivan from RARA-AVIS)
-- It tells the story of two small time Detroit criminals, Ernest Stickley and Frank Ryan, who embark on a spree of armed robberies. They make a partnership in which they agree to follow "Ryan's Rules" (which has been an alternate title for this novel). They soon break these rules and come to have several misadventures involving botched armed robberies (their own and others they are victims of) double-crosses and department store holdups gone wrong. The action follows non-stop much like a violent video game. There is Leonard's characteristic wry humour: An incompetent stick-up man is relieved of the proceeds of his robbery. He's locked in a storage room with his victims, who proceed to beat him unconscious. Stick and Frank walk away with the money and are in turn robbed in a parking lot. Stick and Frank rob a liquor store where the stubborn senior citizen behind the cash register is willing to die and allow his equally elderly wife to be raped and murdered rather than hand over the hidden money. All this and more while never going over the top and becoming unbelievable. It's possible to empathize with Stickley's predicament. He's basically a good man who does bad things. It is inexplicable to me that this book has not been made into a movie while many lesser Leonard novels have. The Stickley character reappears in the novel "Stick", in which it is revealed that Ryan died in prison. That novel, Stick, was made into the 1985 Burt Reynolds movie. (suetonius "seutonius" (Phoenix) from Amazon.com)

(Взятка)

[*Leonard's dedication: "For Peter."
--Jack Ryan, Detroit's best process server, sets out to find a missing stockholder and finds himself part of a vicious, potentially lethal triangle, the perils of which are complicated by his growing love for Lee, a vulnerable alcoholic.
--"Remarkable ingenious...Will keep you on the edge of your chair". (NYTimes Book Review)]

[*Set: Detroit.
--A photograph of Al Rosen saving guests in a hotel fire in Israel appears in daily newspapers across the United States, and from then on, everyone is looking for him, and somebody wants him dead.]

[*The Switch, nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award by the Mystery Writers of America: Best Original Paperback Novel of 1978
--Book Description: Black Ordell Robbie and white Louis Gara have lots in common - time in the same gaol, convictions for auto theft, and a grand plan. They're going to snatch the wife of a Detroit developer and collect some easy ransom money. At least that's what they think... What they haven't figured on is the fact that the husband has a secret mistress and has absolutely no desire to get his wife back. So now it's time for Plan B. With the help of one seriously ticked-off housewife they are going to take the scumbag for everything he's got...
   About the Author: Elmore Leonard has written more than three dozen books during his highly successful career, and many of his novels have been made into bestselling films. He has been named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America and lives in Bloomfield Village, Michigan, with his wife Christine.
   Synopsis: Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara grab Mickey Dawson, wife of Frank Dawson, to hold for ransom. Frank could care less. He has a mistress and does not want his wife back. This makes Mickey very upset and she decides she wants part of the action with Ordell and Louis. Meanwhile, the mistress decides she wants to be part of their plan too.
--The Switch by Leonard has the base storyline use in the great 80s hit film "Ruthless People" with Danny Devito. Two hapless criminals kidnap the wife of a rich man and demand ransom- ransom he does not want to pay as they are embroiled in divorce proceedings. Set in the tony country club world of suburban Detroit this is classic Leonard. Wry, dry, ironic, funny and yet poignant at times. His characters come to life and stay with you. Louis and his fellow ex-con buddy Ordell, re-team up in Rum Punch- the book another film was based on- "Jackie Brown". (from Amazon.com)]

[Set: Arizona.
--Brendan Early and Dana Moon. They were always something to see; real professionals, two of the toughest characters any man ever aimed a gun at. Sure they spent half their time feuding. But once there was the smell of guns and maybe a hint of glory in the air, they teamed up--armed to the teeth to grin down to trouble. Now they were holed up on an Arizona mountain with a copper war primed to explode in their faces. Early and Moon, together they fought through hell. Now they've got a fight to the finish.
--Synopsis: Brendan Early and Dana Moon are a professional gunslinging duo. Holed up on an Arizona mountain with a copper war primed to explode, the team is ready to fight to the finish.]

[*Set: Detroit.
*the character of Detroit detective Raymond Cruz likewise makes a cameo appearance in Out of Sight after his earlier featured shot in City Primeval, High Noon in Detroit. (BaxDeal from RARA-AVIS)]
[--Clement Mansell knows how easy it is to get away with murder. The seriously crazed killer is already back on the Detroit streets - thanks to some nifty courtroom moves by his crafty looker of a lawyer - and he's feeling invincible enough to execute a crooked Motown judge on a whim. Homicide Detective Raymond Cruz thinks the "Oklahoma Wildman" crossed the line long before this latest outrage, and he's determined to see that the hayseed psycho does not slip through the legal system's loopholes a second time. But that means a good cop is going to have to play somewhat fast and loose with the rules - in order to maneuver Mansell into a wild Midwest showdown that he won't be walking away from.
--In City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit, an enraged detective serves justice illegally to a brutal killer who evades prosecution once too often.
--Detroit homicide detective Raymond Cruz knows who shot the judge. And who killed eight more people. But knowing and proving are two different things. Steve Dunn does a first-class job presenting this complex story packed with a host of dark characters. He mixes carefully chosen dialects with just the right amount of emotion, pacing and inflection to bring this story to life. Although the opening chapters seem crowded with people and events, the plot moves smoothly to a clear conclusion.]

С мертвого никто не спросит
(Городские джунгли)

[*Set: Detroit.
--Karen Di Cilia married a man in the Mafia. When he died he left her $4,000,000 - and instructions that she never touch another man again. He had the connections to ensure that his will was carried out. His friends hired a hustler to guard her. However the hustler had other ideas.]

(Золотой берег)

[*Set: Detroit/South Florida.
* Split Images, nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award by the Mystery Writers of America: Best Novel of 1981
--By the author of "LaBrava", "Glitz", "52 Pick Up" and "Killshot", this novel tells the tale of millionaire, Robbie Daniels, who shoots people for sport. Cop Detective Walter Kouza, investigating the killing of a Haitian intruder, discovers that Daniels has his sights set a good deal higher.]

[*Set: South Florida.
--George Moran's affair with a beautiful woman leads him into danger when her husband, a mob-connected Dominican cop, discovers what has been happening and sets out to seek revenge on him at all costs.
--the main character - George Moran, hotelier and ex-Marine]

(Охотник на кошек; Истребитель кошек)

[*Set: South Florida.
--Stick reckoned that if intelligence didn't put him on the fast track, he could always fall back on the perfect scam. The target is a big, moneyed, junked-up wheeler-dealer. The scenario is perfected by a sweetly bodied blonde, expert on men and money. The prize is $72.0000.]

(Стик)

[*Leonard's dedication: "This one's for Swanie, bless his heart."
*Set: South Florida.
--Edgar Award, Best Novel winner - 1984.
--"Riveting and exhilarating...terse and tough...Leonard is a master." (New York Newsday).
--"Many surprises... The tone is dry and mordant, the action well-paced, and the voices of the riffraff convincing... LaBrava may be the best of Mr. Leonard’s books; it is about as good as the form allows... a thriller whose conclusion is even more satisfying than the crackling exposition, whose denouement plausibly resolves an ironic plot that was fully thought through." (New York Times Book Review).
"Have I got a book for you. LaBrava is a mean-streets romance, laconic and bittersweet, so thoroughly a film noir in novel form that a twenty-five-year-old Hollywood film noir is itself at the center of the plot... Check it out." (Washington Post Book World).
--The main character - Joseph LaBrava, ex-Secret Service, photographer]

Ла Брава.

[*Set: South Florida/Atlantic City.
--A story of murder and corruption set in Puerto Rico and Atlantic City. Tommy Donovan has a casino in both places. Our cop hero Vincent is convalescing in Puerto Rico after being shot by a mugger. Vincent gets involved with a Puerto Ricon beauty who leaves to work for Donovan in Atlantic City.
--After the publication of 'Glitz' Leonard began to receive not only long-overdue attention, including a Newsweek cover story, but correspondingly high sales, a trend that has continued and snowballed with each successive novel. As Steven King noted in a New York Times book review: "You can put Glitz on the same shelf with your John D. MacDonalds, your Raymond Chandlers, your Dashiell Hammetts...This is the kind of book that if you get up to see if there are any chocolate chip cookies left, you take it with you so you won't miss anything." (from Steven Hartman's article)
--"After finishing Glitz I went out to the bookstore and bought everything else of Elmore Leonard I could find." Stephen King]

(Глитц)

[*Set: New Orleans.
--Frank Matisse had specialized in stealing from hotel rooms but was trying hard to go straight. He meets Dick Nichols in New Orleans and discovers that he was raising money for the Contras, although his daughter, Lucy, doesn't want the money to arrive in Nicaragua. From the author of "Glitz".]

Бандиты.

[--with an Introduction by Elmore Leonard.
--A novel about ordinary people encountering mysterious events in Detroit during the 1970s.]

Прикосновение смерти.

[*Leonard's dedication: "To my wife Joan for giving me the title and a certain look when I write too many words."
--Robin Abbot and Emerson "Skip" Gibbs, ex-lovers and ex-radicals of the 1960s team up once again in the 1980s to even an old score in Detroit.]

Смерть со спецэффектами.
(Причудливый Дики)

[*Set: Detroit/Southeastern Michigan.
--When trigger-happy Richie Nix hijacks the lethal Blackbird's Cadillac and takes him for a ride to extort $10,000 from an estate agent, it's unfortunate that a veteran ironworker and his smart wife get in their way, because one of the Blackbird's rules is never to leave living witnesses.]

Киллер.
(Стрельба на поражение; Наповал; Смертельный выстрел; Выстрел)

[*Leonard's dedication: "For Walter Mirisch, one of the good guys."
*Set: Miami, Las Vegas and Hollywood.
--In a novel filled with his signatures - nerve-shattering suspense, crackling dialogue, scathing wit - Elmore Leonard proves once again why he sets the standard against which all other crime novels are measured. In Get Shorty, he takes a mobster to Hollywood, where the women are gorgeous, the men are corrupt, and making it big isn't all that different from making your bones: you gotta know who to pitch, who to hit, and how to knock 'em dead.
--Characters: Ernest "Chili" Palmer, Bo Catlett, Bear.]

Контракт с коротышкой.
(Достать коротышку; Недомерок)

[*Leonard's dedication: "For the Honorable Marvin."
* Hammett Prize, International Association of Crime Writers, 1991, for Maximum Bob.
* Elmore’s friend and fellow legendary writer Donald Westlake was profiled by Peter Cannon in Publisher’s Weekly. He had this interesting observation:
“I once adapted a screenplay for one of Dutch’s novels; I can’t remember now which one. I was struck that he had an extra level of text. There was the dialogue and the description and then this third level of commentary, I’d never seen before.
  Note: Westlake adapted "Maximum Bob" for a four hour ABC miniseries that was never made. Instead Barry Sonnenfeld produced the 1998 TV series, which Elmore, to Barry’s face, called “Hee-Haw, The Movie. (from The Official Elmore Leonard Website Weblog - Thursday, February 22, 2007)]

[*Set: South Florida//West Palm Beach.
--Enter the world of Elmore Leonard. The setting is Palm Beach County, Florida, where someone places a live ten-foot alligator in the backyard of the bigoted, redneck judge Bob Gibbs--known to all as Maximum Bob--and his wife, Leanne, a former Weeki Wachee mermaid. Not long after that, shots are fired into the judge's house. It doesn't take much figuring to conclude that someone's out to get him and that malefactor isn't going to stop at the second try. There's a long list of suspects: Dale Crowe, who just got an outrageous sentence for a minor crime; his uncle Elvin, a killer on parole, raring to go again; Dr. Tommy Vasco, the drugged out former medical doctor; his equally bizarre friend, Hector; and Dicky Campau, who makes a living poaching alligators. And there are others.
   Somehow Kathy Baker, a nifty young probation officer, has got herself in the middle of all this. She's got to avoid two seducers--the judge and a homicidal maniac--and work with a young police officer who interests her for more than professional reasons. Trying to pick out from his assortment of bad guys, sociopaths, and punks the one who's trying to kill the judge is pure entertainment, as only Elmore Leonard, with his ear for the sound and eye for the sight of lowlife, can provide.]

(Боб Максимум)

[*Leonard's dedication: "For Jackie, Carole, and Larry."
*Set: South Florida/West Palm Beach.
--Jackie Burke's future looks grim. She's been a flight attendant for twenty years and she's down to working for an island-hopping airline the day she lands in Palm Beach International with fifty grand and is taken into custody. The Feds know Jackie works for a man who sells machine guns to bad guys, but they don't know his name. Jackie looks at her options. She can tell what she knows about Ordell Robbie, the gun dealer, and get off - except that if Ordell suspects you're talking about him, you're dead. Or she can keep her mouth shut and do five years. Then she meets Max Cherry - late fifties, recently separated, and just starting to think that maybe there's more to life than being a bail bondsman--and sees she has more options than she thought.
  Max is hooked on Jackie from the first time he sees her. But when he meets Ordell, he has quite a different reaction. Nineteen years a bail bondsman, Max knows trouble when he sees it.  Jackie comes up with a plan to play the Feds off against the bad guys and walk off with Ordell's money, but she needs Max's help. Max allows himself to be drawn in just to stay near Jackie, yet he can't help but wonder if he's being used. As for Ordell, he's making it now after years of busted deals. No one is going to stand in the way of his million-dollar payoff...
--Pretty working-girl Jackie Burke is in a tight spot. She's just been picked up at Palm Beach International with fifty grand and some blow stashed in her flight bag. Lucky for her, the Feds want something Jackie's got: the inside track to Ordell Robbie, the notoriously slick arms dealer. And they're ready to deal-Ordell in exchange for her freedom. But Jackie's got another ace up her sleeve. . . Enter Max Cherry, bail bondsman. Big, tough, basically decent Max is on the verge of divorce and tired of the same old grind. That's where Jackie comes in. The fifty big ones are peanuts compared to what Ordell's got locked away in Freeport. But when a blowsy blond blowhead and a none-too-bright ex con try to muscle in on the action, it's time to pull and old bait and switch-where the good guys are played off against the bad guys-and where Jackie and Max hope to walk off into the Florida sunset with a hot half million in cold cash.
*Filmed as "Jackie Brown". Screenplay & Directed by Quentin Tarantino [Production house: Mighty Mighty Afro-dite Productions / Miramax Films. Production dates: May 1997, "August 7", 1997. Release date: 25 December 1997 USA).
--Apparently, Tarantino changed the name and race of the main character from Jackie Burke to Jackie Brown to reference two other crime-based characters: Foxy Brown, a character from some old gangster movie I'm not familiar with, and Jackie Brown, "a criminal character in a 1973 gangland novel entitled 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle' by George V. Higgins, a crime novelist whose work is greatly appreciated by Elmore Leonard." (Ryan Benedetti from RARA-AVIS)]

Ромовый пунш.
(Порция рома; Джеки Браун)

[*Leonard's dedication: "For Joan, always."
--An electrifying New York Times bestseller, Elmore Leondard's Pronto is a two-continent-crossing, wiseguy-cracking gem of a novel about a fall guy for the Miami mob. "Readers will relish Leonard's latest roller-coaster ride. . . . The only problem with the book is that it ends.]

Пронто.

[*Set: South Florida/Miami.
--This is the story of Harry, the ex-mobster who first appeared in "Pronto", who has been kidnapped by a raggle-taggle band of extortionists and ex-cons under the impression that he's richer than he really is.]

Именем закона.

[*Leonard's dedication: "For Michoel and Kelly."
--"a genuine love story". Ed McBain.
--A prison break in South Florida brings together two different people - federal marshal Karen Sisco and bank robber Jack Foley - as their mutual fascination leads them to the heist of the year in Detroit and a confrontation with vici and brutal criminals specializing in home invasion.]

Вне поля зрения.

[*Leonard's dedication: "For my old friend Allan Hayes".
*Set: Arizona/Cuba.
--In an effort to turn straight, former convict Ben Tyler makes a shady deal to travel to Cuba in the middle of the Spanish-American War.
--the main character - Ben Tyler, cowpuncher/bank robber/gunrunner.
--Set on the eve of the Spanish-American War, Elmore Leonard's electrifying novel takes off like a shot. A spellbinding journey into the heart and soul of the Cuban revolution of a hundred years ago, Cuba Libre is an explosive mix of high adventure, history brought to life, and a honey of a love story-all with the dead-on dialogue and unforgettable characters that mark Elmore Leonard as an American original. Just three days after the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor, Ben Tyler arrives with a string of horses to sell-cover for a boatload of guns he's running to Cuban insurgents, risking a firing squad if he's caught.]

(Куба Либре; Свободная Куба)

[*Leonard dedicated this novel "To The Stone Coyotes: Barbara Keith Tibbles, Doug Tibbles, and John Tibbles. Thanks for letting Linda Moon use your music." & "Thanks to Aerosmith and Stephen Davis, whose book Walk This Way, Copyright 1997, provided some material for the portrait of the band."
*Set: Los Angeles.
--A sequel to Get Shorty, Be Cool offers another instalment in the career of Chili Palmer - originally a Miami loan-shark, but now a big-shot in Hollywood. This time, Chili wants to get involved in the music business.]

Будь крутым.
(Будь круче!)

[*Leonard's dedication: "For Jackie Farber."
*Set: Rwanda/Detroit.
--Father Terry Dunn thought he'd seen everything on the mean streets of Detroit, but that was before he went on a little retreat to Rwanda to evade a tax-fraud indictment. Now the whiskey-drinking, Nine Inch Nails T-shirt-wearing padre is back trying to hustle up a score to help the little orphans of Rwanda. But the fund-raising gets complicated when a former tattletale cohort pops up on Terry's tail. And then there's the lovely Debbie Dewey. A freshly sprung ex-con turned stand-up comic, Debbie needs some fast cash, too, to settle an old score. Now they're in together for a bigger payoff than either could finagle alone. After all, it makes sense...unless Father Terry is working a con of his own.]

Деньги - не проблема.
(Языческие младенцы)

[*Leonard's dedication: "For Christine."
--High diver Dennis Lenahan is about to perform his regular stunt of diving into a small water tank from the roof of the Tishomingo Lodge in Mississippi when, way below, he sees a guy getting killed. Dennis has stumbled into one hell of a scene - unfortunate enough to be present when the cool dudes from Detroit are trying to muscle in on the local activities of the Dixie Mafia. And he's still around when it all comes to a shoot-out at the annual reconstruction of the Civil War Battle of Tishomingo - only this time they're playing with real guns... Elmore Leonard's great new bestseller combines, as always, high comedy with high action, and some of the best dialogue ever given to characters in a novel.]
--A high diver, a con artist and a Civil War re-enactment.]

Случайный свидетель.
(Тишоминго блюз)

[*Leonard dedicated this novel "To the Detroit Police Homicide Section."
*Set: Detroit.
--Roommates Kelly and Chloe are enjoying their lives and their downtown Detroit loft just fine. Kelly is a Victoria's Secret catalog model. Chloe is an escort, until she decides to ditch her varied clientele in favor of a steady gig as girlfriend to eighty-four-year-old retired lawyer Tony Paradiso, a.k.a. Mr. Paradise.
   Evenings at Mr. Paradise's house, there's always an old Michigan football game on TV. And when Chloe's around, there's a cheerleader, too, complete with pleated skirt and blue-and-gold pompoms. One night Chloe convinces Kelly to join in the fun, along with Montez Taylor, Tony's smooth-talking right-hand man. But things go awry and before the end of the evening there will be two corpses, two angry hit men, one switch of identity, a safe-deposit box full of loot up for grabs, and, fast on the scene, detective Frank Delsa, who now has another double homicide -- and this one with a beautiful, willful witness -- to add to his already heavy caseload.
  With a cool cast, snappy dialogue, and all the twists and turns fans crave, Mr. Paradise is Elmore Leonard at home in Detroit and sharper than ever.]

Соучастники

[*Leonard's dedication: "For my two girls, Jane and Katy"
*Publication Date: May 10, 2005, NY: William Morrow/Avon.
--"The Hot Kid" by Elmore Leonard is an old-fashioned gangster story set during the Depression era. As a boy, Carlos Webster thought U.S. marshals were cool and grew up to be one. He goes after a bad man named Jack Belmont, whose major life goal was to be Public Enemy no. 1. Along the way, he has to deal with Pretty Boy Floyd, his sort-of girlfriend, Louly, and a vigilante FBI agent who wants to get rid of Belmont with the help of some Klansman. It’s all the usual great stuff from America’s no. 1 writer of cool dialogue. (Otto Penzler. The New York Sun)
--Carlos Webster was fifteen in the fall of 1921 the first time he came face-to-face with a nationally known criminal. A few weeks later, he killed his first man—a cattle thief who was rustling his dad's stock. Now Carlos, called Carl, is the hot kid of the U.S. Marshals Service, one of the elite manhunters currently chasing the likes of Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd across America's Depression-ravaged heartland. Carl wants to be the country's most famous lawman. Jack Belmont, the bent son of an oil millionaire, wants to be public enemy number one. Tony Antonelli of True Detective magazine wants to write about this world of cops and robbers, molls and speakeasies from perilously close up. Then there are the hot dames—Louly and Elodie—hooking their schemes and dreams onto dangerous men. And before the gunsmoke clears, everybody just might end up getting exactly what he or she wished for.
[--Before Elmore Leonard abandoned westerns to blaze across the pantheon of bestsellerdom with his hip, stylish thrillers, punctuated with dead-pan humor and dialogue worthy of a David Mamet play, he might have written "The Hot Kid"; it has some of the same crisp pacing and well-defined, if not especially complex, characters that marked his earlier novels. A show-down between Tulsa oil wildcatter and millionaire Oris Belmont and his 18-year-old son, who's attempting to shake him down, says all there is to say about both men: "I don't know what's wrong with you. You're a nice-looking boy, wear a clean shirt every day, keep your hair combed ... where'd you get your ugly disposition? Your mama blames me for not being around, so then I give you things .. you get in trouble, I get you out. Well, now you've moved on to extortion in your life of crime ... I pay you what you want or you're telling everybody I have a girlfriend?"
   Jack Belmont's blackmail scheme doesn't work, but after destroying his father's property, forging checks in his name, kidnapping his mistress, and joining a gang of notorious bank robbers after his release from prison, he encounters another man trying to get out from under his father's large shadow and create his own, bigger one. Deputy U.S. Marshal Carl Webster, who at age 15 shot a man trying to steal his cows and six years later dispenses equal justice to Emmet Long, the leader of Belmont's gang, now has Jack Belmont in his sights. Webster's exploits have earned him even more celebrity than Jack, who dreams of rivaling Pretty Boy Floyd as public enemy number one.
   We're in the early 30's here, just as a dust cloud is rolling across the Oklahoma plains--the days of Bonnie and Clyde, when gangsters captured the public attention, and Leonard makes good use of place and time. His minor characters are much more interesting than his protagonists, especially the women, and the writing shows occasional flashes of his trademarked ironic humor. But it's not as cool - or as hot - as even his most dedicated readers are used to, and there's barely a trace of the bizarre plot twists and unlikely coincidences that define his most recent caper novels in this one. (Jane Adams)]

Небеса подождут.
Пуля для негодяя.

[Serial Novel in 14 parts, 304 pages.
*From The Official Elmore Leonard Website Weblog - Wednesday, February 14, 2007.
  Starting today and continuing for the next 14 weeks leading up to the publication of Up in Honey’s Room, Elmore Leonard’s serial novel, Comfort to the Enemy will be available at elmoreleonard.com for download.
  The first chapter is entitled, The Hanging of Willi Martz. The story opens ten years after The Hot Kid. Carl Webster, famous U.S. Marshal is investigating a hanging at a German prisoner of war camp called, Deep Fork, just outside of Okmulgee, Oklahoma. It is the fall of 1944. ]

[*  Comfort to the Enemy is a serial novel that Elmore wrote for the New York Times in 14 installments between September 18 and December 18, 2005.
This from Presstime: New York Times Magazine Tries Serial and a Smile. BYLINE: by A.S. BERMAN
  IN A BID TO ATTRACT younger readers, The New York Times Magazine on Sept. 18 introduced The Funny Pages, a 10-page section featuring serialized fiction, humorous essays and cutting-edge graphic stories.
  Spearheaded by Editor Gerald Marzorati—former nonfiction editor at The New Yorker and deputy editor at Harper’s Magazine—the Sunday magazine’s new section draws inspiration from popular literary forms past and present.
  Tapping into a newspaper tradition popularized by authors such as Charles Dickens—and, more recently, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Armistead Maupin—“The Sunday Serial” features a new installment of an original, commissioned literary work each week. First up was Comfort to the Enemy by Elmore Leonard, author of such best-selling crime novels as Get Shorty.
  The story, involving a suspicious death in an Oklahoma interment camp for German POWs during World War II, is slated to run in 2,500-word installments for 14 weeks until Dec. 18.
  “The Sunday Serial really came out of a belief that it’s a particularly vibrant time in American genre fiction,” Marzorati says. “We went to [Leonard] first because he truly is the master.”
  It was not a particularly happy experience for Elmore because the Times tried to edit him.
  From a piece in The Detroit Free Press: the idea of Elmore Leonard and his expletive-spouting bad guys being edited for a newspaper that still identifies women as Mrs. So-and-So is hilarious. In time, Leonard will probably think it’s funny, too. [Read the whole piece by Marta Salij of The Detroit Free Press elmoreleonard.com]
  Comfort to the Enemy is part of a trilogy we call The Carl Webster Saga. It starts with The Hot Kid, continues with Comfort to the Enemy and concludes with Up in Honey’s Room.
  There are no current publishing plans for Comfort to the Enemy in hardcover, but I predict that it will be published in 2008. (from The Official Elmore Leonard Website Weblog - Tuesday, February 13, 2007)]

[*Leonard's dedication: "For my boys, Pete, Chris and Bill"
*  New Elmore Leonard Novel - May 8, 2007. Elmore has just completed his 41st novel. (Leonard Website Weblog)
The novel is part of what could be called, “The Webster Saga.” The Webster in question is of course Carl Webster, the Hot Kid of the Marshal Service, who in the novel, The Hot Kid, becomes a legendary lawman going after Depression era bandits and the like.
  Carl’s legend continued in Comfort to the Enemy, a serial novel published by the New York Times in 2005. In this story, Carl helped the government find escaped German POWs in Oklahoma particularly at Deep Fork near his family home.
  Now in, Up in Honey’s Room, Carl comes to Detroit to find a couple escaped German POWs and finds first a degenerate Nazi spy ring and some hot women who are as dangerous as they are fun. Plenty of surprises in this book.
--The odd thing about Walter Schoen, German born but now running a butcher shop in Detroit, he’s a dead ringer for Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and he Gestapo. They even share the same birthday. Walter is a member of a spy ring that sends U.S. war production data to Germany and gives shelter to escaped German prisoners of war.
  Honey Diehl, Walter’s American wife, has given up trying to make him over as a regular guy. She decides it’s time to stop telling him jokes he doesn’t understand and get a divorce.
  Along comes Carl Webster, the Hot Kid of the Marshals Service. He’s looking for Jurgen Schrenk, a former Afrika Korps officer who escaped from a POW camp in Oklahoma. Carl uses Honey to meet Walter, who Carl believes is hiding Jurgen. He also meets Vera Mezwa, the nifty Ukrainian head of the spy ring, ho’s better looking than Mata Hari, and her tricky lover Bohdan, with the Buster Brown haircut and a sly way of killing.
  Honey’s a free spirit; she likes the hot kid marshal and doesn’t care much that he’s married. But all Carl wants is to get Jurgen without getting shot.
And then there’s Otto-the Waffen-SS major who runs away with a nice Jewish girl. It’s Elmore Leonard’s world-gritty, funny, and full of surprises.
--In Up in Honey’s Room, Leonard sets the action in the bustling Detroit of 1948, just after WWII has come to an end. Carl Webster, a handsome Oklahoma lawman famous for the line: “If I have to take my gun out of my holster, I’ll shoot to kill,” is on the trail of young Jurgen Schrenk, once a German tank commander and now an escaped POW. Jurgen is given protection by Walter Schoen, a dull Midwestern butcher who believes he’s Heinrich Himmler’s twin. It’s Honey Deal, the smart, sassy blonde who was married to Walter for one miserable year, who helps Carl infiltrate a ring of German spies headed by Vera Mezwa, a Ukrainian femme fatale, and her cross-dressing, heavily armed manservant.]

[--Leonard launches three characters from previous novels on a collision course in this seemingly effortless performance. After prison buddy Cundo Rey (last seen in "LaBrava") drops a bundle on a shark attorney, celebrity bank robber Jack Foley (from "Out of Sight") gets his 30-year prison sentence reduced to 30 months. Jack's quickly back in the world, living large in one of Cundo's two multimillion-dollar houses in Venice, Calif., juggling a fast seduction with fortune-teller (from "Riding the Rap") Dawn Navarro (who is now Cundo's lady) and the untoward attention of rogue FBI agent Lou Adams, who's waiting for Foley to rob another bank. (from Publishers Weekly) ]

[--Dara Barr is a noted filmmaker. She reads about the Somalia pirates becoming more brazen and decides to do a documentary about them. She is accompanied by a philosophical cameraman and confidante, Xavier LeBo, who stands six foot six and is a vigorous seventy-two years old. They travel to Djibouti, in Northeast Africa, a country bordering Somalia.(Amazon.com)]

Other Fiction:

[*Limited Edition Hardcover. It combines notes Leonard made during a cross-country trip from Detroit to Los Angeles with the notebook he kept for his novels 'Bandits'.]

A Coyote's in the House (NY: HarperEntertainment, 2004) [juvenile book]

[Set: Hollywood Hills/Los Angeles.
--The first ever children's book from the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling master of contemporary fiction.
Buddy's an aging movie star. Antwan's a rough-and-tumble loner. And Miss Betty, the show girl, is a princess. Different in nearly every way, they share one thing: they're all dogs...at heart.
   Though Antwan's the leader of his pack and loves hanging in the hills, feasting from Hollywood's chicest garbage cans, he's too curious a coyote to turn down his new friend Buddy's invitation to see how the other half lives. Convincing his new human family he's a mysterious pooch named Timmy, Antwan quickly becomes part of the brood.
   But as Antwan's star rises, Buddy's spirits fall. Past his prime to humans, Buddy wants to chuck the luxury and live in the wild -- if Antwan will show him how. To cheer up their pal, Antwan and Miss Betty concoct a daring plan, setting off a chain of uproarious adventures that will teach them all a few new tricks about friendship, family, and life.
   Filled with the spot-on dialogue and clever plotting that have made Elmore Leonard top dog among writers of every breed, A COYOTE'S IN THE HOUSE reveals the inner life of canines -- wild and domesticated -- in a fresh, funny tale for the young and the young at heart.]

Short Stories:

Trail of the Apache (December 1951, Argosy) [western]
Original Title: Apache Agent

(След апачей)

Apache Medicine (May 1952, Dime Western) [western]
(aka: Apache)
Original Title: Medicine

You Never See Apaches... (September 1952, Dime Western) [western]
Original Title: Eight Days from Wilcox

Red Hell Hits Canyon Diablo (October 1952, 10 Story Western Magazine) [western]
Original Title: First Patrol, then Tizwin
[*First western story written by Leonard - year*-?]
[*character - Matt Cline]

The Colonel's Lady (November 1952, Zane Grey's Western Magazine) [western]
Original Title: Road to Inspiration

Law of the Hunted Ones (December 1952, Western Story Magazine) [western]
aka (?Original Title): Outlaw Pass
[*First use of the "point of view" narrative to tell a story for Leonard.]

Cavalry Boots (December 1952, Zane Grey's Western Magazine) [western]

Under the Friar's Ledge (January 1953, Dime Western Magazine) [western]
(!error: Under the Friar's Lodge [January 1953, Zane Grey's Western Magazine])
(?aka: Under the Friar's Edge)

The Rustlers (February 1953, Zane Grey's Western Magazine) [western]
Original Title: Along the Pecos

Three-Ten To Yuma (March 1953, Dime Western) [western]
[*Filmed as "3:10 to Yuma" (1957) & (2007)]

Поезд на Юму.

The Big Hunt (April 1953, Western Story Magazine) [western]
Original Title: Matt Gordon's Boy

Long Night (May 1953, Zane Grey's Western Magazine) [western]

The Boy Who Smiled (June 1953, Gunsmoke [magazine-digest]) [western]

The Hard Way (August 1953, Zane Grey's Western Magazine) [western]

The Last Shot (September 1953, Fifteen Western Tales) [western]
Original Title: A Matter of Duty

Blood Money (October 1953, Western Story Magazine) [western]
Original Title: Rich Miller's Hand

Trouble at Rindo's Station (October 1953, Argosy) [western]
Original Title: Rindo's Station

Saint With a Six-Gun (October 1954, Argosy) [western]
Original Title: The Hanging of Bobby Valdez

The Captives (February 1955, Argosy) [western]
[*Filmed as "The Tall T" (1957)]

No Man's Guns (August 1955, Western Story Roundup) [western]
author's original title: Going Home (1955, Fifteen Western Tales magazine*-? )

The Rancher's Lady (September 1955, Western Magazine) [western]
Original Title: The Woman from Tascosa

Jugged (December 1955, Western Magazine) [western]
Original Title: The Boy from Dos Cabezas

Moment of Vengeance (April 21, 1956, The Saturday Evening Post) [western]
aka: The Waiting Man
[*Filmed as an episode on "Schlitz Playouse of the Stars", 1956]

Man with the Iron Arm (September 1956, Complete Western Book magazine) [western]
aka: The One Arm Man

The Longest Day of His Life (October 1956, Western Novel and Short Stories) [western]

The Nagual (November 1956, Two-Gun Western) [western]
Original Title: The Accident at Joe Stam's

The Kid (December 1956, Western Short Stories) [western]
Original Title: The Gift of Regalo

The Treasure of Mungo’s Landing (June 1958, True Adventures magazine)  [western]
author's original title: Fury at 4-Turnings (1957). (aka: Fury at Four-Turnings)

[*On the table of contents page for the magazine, the author of the story is listed as “Leonard Elmore”.
   This "lost" western story will be included in the paperback edition of "The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard", due out next summer 2007. (from The Official Elmore Leonard Website Weblog - Sunday, October 08, 2006)]

The Bull Ring at Blisston (August 1959, Short Stories for Men Magazine) [western]
(?aka: The Bull Ring at Bliston)

[*Set: Michigan [contemporary].
* This story has not been republished.]

Only Good Ones (1961. in the coll. "Roundup: Western Writers of America Anthology") [western]

[* Became the opening chapter for "Valdez is Coming" with slight changes.]

The Tonto Woman (1982. in the coll. "Roundup: Western Writers of America Anthology", Doubleday 1982 )  [western]

[--"The Tonto Woman" is about a woman who had been kidnapped by Indians and tattooed on her face. Many years later, she makes it back home only to be shunned by her husband-until a crafty and honorable Mexican cattle rustler comes along. (A. Ross, Washington, DC from Amazon.com)]

"Hurrah for Capt. Early" (1994. in the coll. "New Trails: Western Writers of America Anthology", ed. John Jakes & Martin H. Greenberg, [Doubleday, 1994]) [crime/tropical western-1]

[--"Hurrah For Captain Early" also stands quite well on its own but is a sequel, in its way, to Cuba Libre (a novel that, despite Leonard's representations, is an "Eastern," not a Western). Its ending, while ironic, is a bit trite but certainly appropriate in this tale of heroes unwelcome and heroes ignored.
--"Hurrah for Captain Early" shows the side of Leonard that believes in using his stories to tell a little history. It's about a black U.S. Army veteran of the Spanish-American war, and in it, Leonard pokes holes in the myth of the Rough Riders. (A. Ross, Washington, DC from Amazon.com)
--"Hurrah for Capt. Early," set in Sweetmary, Arizona, in 1898, finds two men - ex-U.S. soldier and Spanish-American veteran Bo Catlett, and a cowboy ranch rider named Macon - facing off in the middle of La Salle Street with an unconventional choice of weaponry. Leonard writes: "Catlett raised the saber to lay the tip against Macon's breastbone, saying to him, 'You use your pistol and I use steel? All right, if that's how you want it. See if you can shoot me 'fore this blade is sticking out your back. You game?'" The immediacy that Leonard (whose 1998 novel, Cuba Libre, took place at the outset of the Spanish-American War) brings to his portrayal of the Americans who fought in Cuba in 1898 makes the reader feel that he must have been there. Surely he charged up San Juan Hill with Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, no? Such is the power of Leonard's research and prose.(Anthony Rainone from January Magazine)]

The Odyssey ([November*-?] 1995, The Miami Herald Tropic; also - in the Collective Novel "Naked Came the Manatee", [NY: G.P.Putnam's Sons, 1995 [1996-?* or Putnam’s, Feb ’97])

Naked Came the Manatee, [ed. Tom Schroder] (NY: Putnam’s 1997 [95, 96*-?]) A novel by Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, Dave Barry, James W. Hall, Edna Buchanan, Les Standiford, Paul Levine, Brian Antoni, Tananarive Due, John Dufresne, Vicki Hendricks, Carolina Hospital, Evelyn Mayerson. [ed. Tom Schroder (201pp, hc)]
Round-robin thriller written by 13 Florida writers (for The Miami Herald Tropic magazine):
1)   Booger by Dave Barry [p.1]
2)   The Big Wet Sleep by Les Standiford [p.13]
3)   Biscayne Blues by Paul Levine [27]
4)   The L.A. Connection by Edna Buchanan [p.41]
5)   The Old Woman and the Sea by James W. Hall [p.57]
6)   Heading to Havana by Carolina Hospital [p.67]
7)   The Lock & Key by Evelyn Mayerson [p.79]
8)   Strange Fish by Tananarive Due [p.95]
9)   South Beach Serenade by Brian Antoni [p.111]
10) Dance of the Manatee by Vicki Hendricks [p.131]
11) Where Are You Dying Tonight? by John DuFresne [p.145]
12) The Odyssey by Elmore Leonard [p.163-176]
13) The Law of the Jungle by Carl Hiaasen [p.177]

[--"Naked Came the Manatee" is a novel like no other: a wickedly funny Florida suspense thriller, written serially by thirteen of the state's most talented writers. In November 1995, a baker's dozen of Florida's finest writers began a serial novel for The Miami Herald's Tropic magazine under the guidance of Tropic's editor Tom Shroder - one writer passing the completed chapters to the next - and with each chapter, the excitement grew.
--A 'wickedly funny suspense thriller' originally published in serial form in the Miami Herald. Dave Barry provided the initial chapter, while 12 of Florida's most talented and best known writers contributed a chapter each. The final chapter was written by Hiassen.
--Originally published in "The Miami Herald", this comic novel of suspense was penned serially by 13 writers associated with Florida. The authors, including Elmore Leonard, Dave Barry, and Edna Buchanan, each added a chapter before passing along the manuscript to the next in line.
--"Aside from the speedboat ride of a plot...there's the pleasure of listening to these masters play with the language and conventions of the mystery genre, manipulating cliches...and dopey lines, picking up threads previous chapters writers have left behind while deftly upping the ante." -New York Times Book Review
--Publisher notes: In South Florida, everyone wants to get a head. But not just any head. A very famous human head - severed and snugged away in a cryonic container. A head that could spark a revolution and change the course of history. Everybody wants a piece of the noggin: rotund gangster Big Joey G., a 102-year-old environmentalist, hard-boiled Miami reporter Britt Montero, lawyer Jake Lassiter, and a would-be dictator in exile--with ex-president Jimmy Carter and a lovable manatee named Booger thrown in for good measure. With bodies piling up its anybody's guess what will happen from one chapter to the next, as an all-star line-up of Florida's finest writers take turns at taking this outrageously original novel to the limit--and beyond.
   A team effort by a veritable who's who of South Florida's funkiest storytellers - including Elmore Leonard, Edna Buchanan, James H. Hall, John Dufresne, Paul Levine, and Dave Barry - "Naked Came the Manatee" is a hilarious and harrowing suspense thriller that could only take place in the dark underworld of the Sunshine State.]

Karen Makes Out (1996. in the coll. "Murder for Love", ed. Otto Penzler, [Delacorte 1996]; also - 1st issue 1996, Mary Higgins Clark Mystery Magazine [v22 #3, Premier Issue, 1996]) [novelette] Karen Sisco-2

[--Karen Sisco, last seen in Out of Sight, makes a welcome if brief return in "Karen Makes Out," in which she again mixes business with pleasure and finds herself to be unlucky in love.
--"Karen Makes Out" is throwaway story about U.S. Marshall Karen Sisco, and a brief fling she has with a man who may or may not be a bank robber. Her character is featured in Leonard's 1996 novel Out of Sight. (A. Ross, Washington, DC from Amazon.com)
*The story, "Karen Makes Out" became the first episode in the ABC Television Series, "Karen Sisco" (release date: 1 October 2003 USA)]

Sparks (1999. in the coll. "Murder and Obsession", ed. Otto Penzler, [Delacorte, 1999]; also - Summer 1999, Mary Higgins Clark Mystery Magazine)

[--In "Sparks", the widow of a famous record producer is grilled by an insurance company adjuster following the suspicious destruction of her house during a California brush fire.
--Character: Ray Canavan, arson investigator (or Joseph Canavan, insurance investigator-?*)]

Hanging Out at the Buena Vista (June 13, 1999, USA Weekend)

Chickasaw Charlie Hoke (2001. in the coll. "Murderers’ Row", ed. Otto Penzler, [Beverly Hills, Calif.: New Millennium Press, 2001]) Dennis Lenahan-1

[--"Chickasaw Charlie Hoke" reads almost like a sidebar to Tishomingo Blues, giving some back story to a couple of the characters in that fine novel. However, the story of how Charlie Hoke gets hired by Billy Darwin stands quite well, if quietly, on its own.
--"Chickasaw Charlie Hoke" is a humorous and colorful story about how the title character lands a job as celebrity greeter for a Vegas casino. What happens after this is detailed in Leonard's 2002 book, Tishomingo Blues, whose main protagonist Dennis Lenahan is also introduced off-stage in this story. (A. Ross, Washington, DC from Amazon.com)]

Fire in the Hole (2001,  e-book [Contentville Press, 2001]; also in EL coll. "When the Women Come Out to Dance" [NY: Morrow, Nov' 2002])  [novella] Raylan Givens-3

[* For those legions who enjoyed Riding the Rap and Pronto, the return of Raylan Givens in "Fire In the Hole," in which Givens' past provides him with a problem in his present - a problem that he faces with regret but without flinching.
--"Fire in the Hole" finds two former co-workers pitted against one another in a deadly showdown: Boyd Crowder is a Bible-quoting neo-Nazi with a penchant for terrorist acts, and Raylan Givens is the U.S. marshal sent to shut him down.]

Огонь в норе.

When the Women Come Out to Dance (2002. in EL coll. "When the Women Come Out to Dance" [NY: Morrow, Nov' 2002])

[--Mrs. Mahmood gets more than she bargains for when she conspires with her maid to end her unhappy marriage.
--This story, concerning a rich wife who aspires to be a very rich widow, has a surprise ending; it resonates all the more so when the reader realizes that he or she should have seen it coming.
--In "When the Women Come Out to Dance", we meet an exotic dancer who married a wealthy Pakistani doctor. A year later, sitting in the lap of luxury, she professes to be worried that she will meet the gruesome fate of other wives no longer desired by their traditional Pakistani husbands-being burned to death. Her new Colomian maid might be the solution to her problem...]

(Когда женщины выходят танцевать; Когда женщины идут на танцы)

Tenkiller (2002. in EL coll. "When the Women Come Out to Dance" [NY: Morrow, Nov' 2002]) [novella]

[--Carl Webster, from "The Hot Kid", has a grandson that finds himself flirting with the family's bad luck with women. (DJK ver 2.0 "Reader and Movie Buff" (Richardson, TX) from Amazon.com)
--Ben Webster is a rodeo star turned Hollywood stuntman who, following the accident death of his fiance, temporarily leaves the movie business to return home to his family's pecan farm, only to find squatters firmly and quasi-legally ensconced on the family property. Outnumbering Webster three to one, the squatters never have a chance. Well, maybe they have one or two. With Leonard, one never knows - after Maximum Bob one realizes that anything can happen in a Leonard novel.]

(Десятый убийца)

How Carlos Webster Changed His Name to Carl and Became a Famous Oklahoma Lawman (2003. in the coll. "McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales", ed. Michael Chabon [NY: Vintage Books (Random House, Inc.), March 25, 2003]) Carl Webster-1 (chapters 1 & 3 from novel "The Hot Kid")
aka: Showdown at Checotah. (How Carlos Webster Changed his Name to Carl and Became a Famous Lawman). [chapters 1-3]. (in the coll. "Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Tales" London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson [The Orion Publishing Group Ltd], 2009); also in the coll. "Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Stories" [NY, HarperCollins, 2010])

[NB: 1st chapter of this story = 1 chapter from the novel "The Hot Kid";
         2 and 3 chapters =  3 chapter from the novel]
[--The fate of a bank-robbing murderer resided in two scoops of peach ice cream on top of a sugar cone.]

Louly and Pretty Boy (2005. in the coll. "Dangerous Women", ed. Otto Penzler, [NY: Mysterious Press, 2005]; also in the coll. "Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Tales" London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson [The Orion Publishing Group Ltd], 2009); and in the coll. "Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Stories" [NY, HarperCollins, 2010]) Carl Webster-1 (a variant of chapter 5 from novel "The Hot Kid")

Comfort to the Enemy. (18 September  — 18 December 2005, The New York Times Magazine; also in the coll. "Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Tales" London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson [The Orion Publishing Group Ltd], 2009); and in the coll. "Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Stories" [NY, HarperCollins, 2010]) Carl Webster-2
Chapter 1: The Hanging of Willi Martz (September 18, 2005)
Chapter 2: Shermane's Lincoln Zephyr (September 25, 2005)
Chapter 3: Is Carl Still The Hot Kid? (October 2, 2005)
Chapter 4: Jurgen Schrenk, Escape Artist (October 9, 2005)
Chapter 5: Carl and Louly in Love (October 16, 2005)
Chapter 6: Gary Marion, Ex-Bull Rider (October 23, 2005)
Chapter 7: Joe Tanzi, Fugitive (October 30, 2005)
Chapter 8: Tutti and Frankie Bones (November 6, 2005)
Chapter 9: Teddy Ritz, White Slaver (November 13, 2005)
Chapter 10: Gunnery Sgt. Louly Webster (November 20, 2005)
Chapter 11: ''It's Up to You, Carl'' (November 27, 2005)
Chapter 12: Jurgen and Otto on the Lam (December 4, 2005)
Chapter 13: Shootout at Shemane's (December 11, 2005)
Chapter 14: ''You Going After Jurgen?'' (December 18, 2005) [aka: Chapter 14-Conclusion. Are You Going After Jurgen?]

[*From The Official Elmore Leonard Website Weblog - Wednesday, February 14, 2007.
  Starting today and continuing for the next 14 weeks leading up to the publication of Up in Honey’s Room, Elmore Leonard’s serial novel, Comfort to the Enemy will be available at elmoreleonard.com for download.
  The first chapter is entitled, The Hanging of Willi Martz. The story opens ten years after The Hot Kid. Carl Webster, famous U.S. Marshal is inversdtigating a hanging at a German prisoner of war camp called, Deep Fork, just outside of Okmulgee, Oklahoma. It is the fall of 1944. ]

Story Collections:

The Tonto Woman and Other Western Stories (1998) [19 western stories]
contents:
The Tonto Woman
The Captives
Only Good Ones
You Never See Apaches
The Colonel's Lady
The Kid
The Big Hunt
Apache Medicine
No Man's Guns
Jugged
The Hard Way
Blood Money
Three-Ten to Yuma
The Boy Who Smiled
Hurrah for Capt. Early
Moment of Vengeance
Saint with a Six-Gun
The Nagual
Trouble at Rindo's Station.

[--Elmore Leonard first made his name as a writer of western stories, and this collection brings them together for the first time. They date back to 1951, and include "3:10 to Yuma" which was made into a classic film.]

When the Women Come Out to Dance: Stories (NY: William Morrow, Nov' 2002, 240pp) [Collection of 9 stories, two new*]
contents:
Sparks.
Hanging Out at the Buena Vista.
Chichasaw Charlie Hoke.
When the Women Come Out to Dance. *
Fire in the Hole.
Karen Makes Out.
"Hurrah for Capt. Early".
The Tonto Woman.
Tenkiller. *
--------
The Extras:
I. ALL BY ELMORE: THE CRIME NOVELS; THE WESTERNS.
II. SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY.
III. IF IT SOUNDS LIKE WRITING, REWRITE IT, by E. Leonard (First published July 16, 2001 as “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points, and Especially Hooptedoodle” in the “Writers on Writing” recurring feature in "The New York Times")
IV. MARTIN AMIS INTERVIEWS “THE DICKENS OF DETROIT” (The Writers Guild Theatre, Beverly Hills, January 23, 1998. Sponsored
by Writers Bloc; Andrea Grossman, Founder).
[--"The Extras" sections was prepared by the editorial staff of PerfectBound e-books, who thank Mr. Gregg Sutter, Elmore Leonard's longtime researcher and aide-de-camp, for his unstinting support and help in the assembling of this material.]

[*Leonard dedicated this collection "For my friend Otto".
--Book Description: Nine crime stories, some contemporary and some historical (there's even a western!). And the title story, When the Women Come Out to Dance, is brand new. In his more than three dozen books, Elmore Leonard has captured the imagination of millions of readers as few writers can. A literary icon praised by The New York Times Book Review as "the greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever," he has influenced many contemporary writers and is known for both the quality and the accessibility of his writing.
  In this collection of new and recently published short fiction, Leonard demonstrates the superb characterizations, dead-on dialogue, vivid atmosphere, and driving plotting that have made him a household name. And once more this master of crime illustrates that the line between the law and the lawbreakers is not as firm as we might think.
  Federal marshal Karen Sisco, from the bestselling novel 'Out of Sight', returns in "Karen Makes Out", once again inadvertently mixing pleasure with business. In "Fire in the Hole", Raylan Givens, last seen in 'Riding the Rap' and 'Pronto', meets up with an old friend, but they're now on different sides of the law. In the title story, "When the Women Come Out to Dance", Mrs. Mahmood gets more than she bargains for when she conspires with her maid to end her unhappy marriage. In all nine stories -- each unique in their own right -- reluctant heroes and laid-back lowlifes struggle for power, survival, and their fifteen minutes of fame. (Performed by Taye Diggs, audiobook)
  Vivid, hilarious, and unfailingly human, these stories ring true with Elmore Leonard's signature deadpan social observations and diabolical eye for the foibles of the good guys and the bad.
--from Amazon.com: What a treat! The nine stories in this collection--some never before published, others available only in anthologies or magazines-- demonstrate why Elmore Leonard has achieved both bestsellerdom and critical acclaim. Ranging in length from a four-page trifle to two novellas of 50-plus pages, these are gems of sly humor, suspense, and, above all, character. Most are in the contemporary crime-fiction vein that made Leonard famous, but a few are more contemplative set pieces, and there's one fine Old West story (Leonard was a Western writer before he became a crime king).
   Longtime fans will recognize some familiar faces, including the U.S. marshals Raylan Givens, from 1993's 'Pronto' and 1995's 'Riding the Rap', and Karen Sisco, from 1996's 'Out of Sight' (played by J. Lo in the movie). But whether familiar or new, the people in these stories lunge off the page and seize you by the lapels. Nobody writes character and dialogue like Leonard. In fact, several tales feature some rural white-trash bad guys who are so utterly plausible that you'll look over your shoulder next time you drive a country road.
   The short story format suits Leonard's stripped-down style beautifully. While one or two of the slimmer pieces feel a bit disposable, all nine are engaging, and the best are breathtakingly good--the crispest, best- plotted stuff Leonard has published in years. (Nicholas H. Allison)
--from Publishers Weekly: Elmore Leonard's latest, When the Women Come Out to Dance, is a collection of short sketches that feature strong female characters in trouble. "Sparks" describes a flirtation between an insurance investigator and a widow who has apparently burned down her own mansion in the Hollywood hills. The riveting title piece involves a rich Pakistani surgeon's wife, a former stripper who's terrified that her playboy husband will have her killed once he gets bored with her. Hoping to knock him off first, she hires as a maid a Colombian woman rumored to have murdered her own abusive husband. "Fire in the Hole" finds two former co-workers pitted against one another in a deadly showdown: Boyd Crowder is a Bible-quoting neo-Nazi with a penchant for terrorist acts, and Raylan Givens is the U.S. marshal sent to shut him down. Leonard fans may wish for something meatier, but the razor-edged dialogue and brisk storytelling won't disappoint.
--from Booklist: Leonard's bibliography in the front of this book may stretch two columns, but the quality of these short stories and novellas proves he's no forest-pulping fiction factory. Seven have been previously published, and two are new offerings. In the cleverly layered title story, a Colombian maid is hired by an unhappy plastic surgeon's wife for her presumed underworld connections; in the longer "Tenkiller", a stuntman who believes the women in his life are cursed to early graves comes home to Oklahoma to run squatters off his land - and perhaps reunite with his high-school sweetheart. With one exception ("Hanging Out at the Buena Vista", which feels like an afterthought), the stories are all firecrackers. Making an especially welcome return is "Chickasaw Charlie Hoke", about a washed-up career farm-league baseball player who has to strike out a casino boss to win a job as a "celebrity host." Leonard fans will recognize this story's setting (Tunica, Mississippi) from 'Tishomingo Blues' [BKL D 1 01] and feisty Federal Marshal Karen Sisco in "Karen Makes Out" from 'Out of Sight' (1996). Although certain recurring scenarios and themes are evident - friends or lovers on opposite sides of the law, and people who take the law into their own hands--Leonard explores these through highly original premises and fresh, three-dimensional characters. Especially noteworthy are the women in these tales, uniformly strong, funny, and complex. But perhaps Leonard's greatest accomplishment is in transforming a notoriously underread form - the short story - into something with mass appeal. (Keir Graff).
---from Bookreporter.com: WHEN THE WOMEN COME OUT TO DANCE, interestingly enough, revisits a number of characters and scenarios previously introduced in a number of Leonard's novels. "Chickasaw Charlie Hoke" reads almost like a sidebar to TISHOMINGO BLUES, giving some back story to a couple of the characters in that fine novel. However, the story of how Charlie Hoke gets hired by Billy Darwin stands quite well, if quietly, on its own. "Hurrah For Captain Early" also stands quite well on its own but is a sequel, in its way, to CUBA LIBRE (a novel that, despite Leonard's representations, is an "Eastern," not a Western). Its ending, while ironic, is a bit trite but certainly appropriate in this tale of heroes unwelcome and heroes ignored. Karen Sisco, last seen in OUT OF SIGHT, makes a welcome if brief return in "Karen Makes Out," in which she again mixes business with pleasure and finds herself to be unlucky in love. And for those legions who enjoyed RIDING THE RAP and PRONTO, WHEN THE WOMEN COME OUT TO DANCE features the return of Raylan Givens in "Fire In the Hole," in which Givens' past provides him with a problem in his present - a problem that he faces with regret but without flinching.
  However, the best stories in WHEN THE WOMEN COME OUT TO DANCE feature characters new to the world of Leonard. The title story, concerning a rich wife who aspires to be a very rich widow, has a surprise ending; it resonates all the more so when the reader realizes that he or she should have seen it coming. And "Tenkiller," the last story in WHEN THE WOMEN COME OUT TO DANCE, is also the best. Ben Webster is a rodeo star turned Hollywood stuntman who, following the accident death of his fiance, temporarily leaves the movie business to return home to his family's pecan farm, only to find squatters firmly and quasi-legally ensconced on the family property. Outnumbering Webster three to one, the squatters never have a chance. Well, maybe they have one or two. With Leonard, one never knows - after MAXIMUM BOB one realizes that anything can happen in a Leonard novel.
  WHEN THE WOMEN COME OUT TO DANCE is a welcome collection from an author who is the Dean of American suspense fiction and more. He has basically become a genre, an icon, unto himself. And WHEN THE WOMEN COME OUT TO DANCE contains nine good reasons why. (Joe Hartlaub)]

(Когда женщины идут на танцы)

The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard (2004)  [30 western stories]
contents:
A Conversation with Elmore Leonard (Gregg Sutter, Los Angeles, 2004)
1. Trail of the Apache 1
2. Apache Medicine 37
3. You Never See Apaches... 51
4. Red Hell Hits Canyon Diablo 67
5. The Colonel’s Lady 89
6. Law of the Hunted Ones 103
7. Cavalry Boots 135
8. Under the Friar’s Ledge 149
9. The Rustlers 163
10. Three-Ten to Yuma 179
11. The Big Hunt 195
12. Long Night 209
13. The Boy Who Smiled 223
14. The Hard Way 237
15. The Last Shot 249
16. Blood Money 263
17. Trouble at Rindo’s Station 279
18. Saint with a Six-Gun 309
19. The Captives 323
20. No Man’s Guns 357
21. The Rancher’s Lady 371
22. Jugged 385
23. Moment of Vengeance 399
24. Man with the Iron Arm 415
25. The Longest Day of His Life 431
26. The Nagual 459
27. The Kid 473
28. Only Good Ones 489
29. The Tonto Woman 503
30. “Hurrah for Captain Early!” 517

[-- with Introduction by Gregg Sutter & map of Arizona 1880s.
--No one is more evocative of the dusty, gutsy hey-day of the American West than Elmore Leonard. And no story about a young writer struggling to launch his career ever matched its subject matter better than the tale behind Leonard's Western oeuvre. In 1950, fresh out of college - having written two "pointless" stories, as he describes them - Leonard decided he needed to pick a market, a big one, which would give him a better chance to be published while he learned to write. In choosing between crime and Westerns, the latter had an irresistible pull - Leonard loved movies set in the West. As he researched deeper into settings, Arizona in the 1880s captured his imagination: the Spanish influence, the standoffs and shootouts between Apache Indians and the U.S. cavalry ... His first dozen stories sold for 2 cents a word, for $100 each. The rest is history.
   This first-ever complete collection of Leonard's thirty Western tales will thrill lovers of the genre, his die-hard fans, and everyone in between -- and makes a terrific study of the launch of a phenomenal career. From his very first story ever published -- "The Trail of the Apache" -- through five decades of classic Western tales, The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard demonstrates again and again the superb talent for language and gripping narrative that has made Leonard one of the most acclaimed and influential writers of our time.
*In 2004, The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard was published. This contained all thirty know stories in chronological order]
=======
[*In 2006, The Complete Westerns were broken up in four paperbacks.
28 of the thirty stories from the Complete Westerns were assembled in non-chronological order:
contents:
1. Moment of Vengeance and Other Stories (HarperTorch [Harpercollins], Jul' 2006):
Law of the Hunted
The Hard Way
The Rancher's Lady
No Man's Guns
The Nagual
Moment of Vengeance
Trouble at Rindo's Station
[--Before he brilliantly traversed the gritty landscapes of underworld Detroit and Miami, the incomparable Elmore Leonard wrote breathtaking adventures set in America's nineteenth-century western frontier -- elevating a popular genre with his now-trademark twisting plots, rich characterizations, and scalpel-sharp dialogue.
  Book Description: There is a moment when obsession, rage, and destiny come together at the end of a shotgun barrel -- when wrongs, actual or perceived, are addressed with violence, and the awesome power of life or death rests in a trigger finger. In seven magnificent stories of sins, crimes, conscience, and savage retribution, the New York Times-bestselling master carries us back to an untamed time and place where a simple transgression most often proved fatal . . . and the only true justice lived in the hands of the gunman.]

2. Blood Money and Other Stories (HarperTorch [Harpercollins], Oct' 2006):
Red Hell Hits Diablo Canyon
The Longest Day of his Life
Apache Medicine
The Last Shot
Saint with a Six-Gun
Blood Money
The Man with the Iron Arm.
[--Book Description: For every story of inspiring moral courage in America's untamed West, there's one of greed and duplicity, of corrupted souls willingly sacrificed to a merciless deity of ill-gotten gold. The New York Times-bestselling Grand Master brings us seven unforgettable western tales of noble stands and cowardly compromises-and battles of will more devastating than a blazing gunfight.]

3. Three-Ten to Yuma and Other Stories (HarperTorch [Harpercollins], Dec' 2006):
The Captives
Cavalry Boots
The Long Night
Under Friar's Ledge
Jugged
Three-Ten to Yuma
The Kid
[--Book Description: Trust was rare and precious in the wide-open towns that sprung up like weeds on America's frontier—with hustlers and hucksters arriving in droves by horse, coach, wagon, and rail, and gunmen working both sides of the law, all too eager to end a man's life with a well-placed bullet. The New York Times-bestselling Grand Master of suspense deftly displays the other side of his genius, with seven classic western tales of destiny and fatal decision . . . and trust as essential to survival as it is hard-earned.
--From America's premier storyteller comes this collection of seven classic western tales of destiny and fatal decision, featuring the story that became the basis for the 1957 western film classic, "3:10 to Yuma," which starred Glenn Ford.]

4. Trail of the Apache and Other Stories (Harper, Feb' 2007):
Trail of the Apache
The Boy Who Smiled
Only Good Ones
The Colonel's Lady
The Big Hunt
You Never See Apaches
The Rustlers
[*The last of four paperbacks of Elmore's Complete Westerns,
--Book Description: Destiny, restlessness, and greed moved the white man west, into lands occupied for centuries by a proud and noble people: Arapahoe, Navajo, Apache, Sioux. The bitter misunderstandings and brutal clashes of cultures that resulted ultimately shaped the nation we know today. In seven classic western tales, the New York Times-bestselling Grand Master re-creates a world of violence, deception, vengeance, and strange beauty with the same peerless storytelling power that distinguishes his acclaimed suspense fiction.]

[*The two excluded stories, The Tonto Woman and Hurrah for Captain Early appear in the two previously mentioned collections, The Tonto Woman and Complete Westerns. They also appear in the When the Women Come Out ot Dance collection that came out in 2002.
The Complete Westerns will be out in trade paperback this spring 2007, revised to include a "lost" story, The Treasure of Mungo's Landing.]

[*Leonard dedicated this collection "For Gregg Sutter, always there".
--A collection of 3 stories traces the beginning, middle, and later years in the career of legendary lawman Carl Webster.
-Notes: "Comfort to the Enemy" is a collection of two short stories and the eponymous novella starring Carl Webster. This novella takes place in the time between the events of Leonard's Carl Webster novels, "The Hot Kid" and "Up in Honey's Room". The two short stories, "Showdown at Checotah" and "Louly and Pretty Boy" also appear in the book, "The Hot Kid".]

Omnibus of novels:

Elmore Leonard's Dutch Treat. Three Novels: the Hunted, Swag, Mr. Majestyk (NY:  The Mysterious Press [Arbor House*-?], 1977; NY: Arbor House Pub Co, November 1985)

[* "Dutch" is nickname of Leonard.
--Novels' Collection, with introduction by George F. Will]

Elmore Leonard's Double Dutch Treat: The Moonshine War, Gold Coast, City Primeval (NY: Arbor House, 1986)

[-- with Introduction by Bob Greene]

Elmore Leonard. Three Complete Novels: LaBrava, Cat Chaser, Split Images (NY: Wings Books, 1992)

[--The first in a series of collections of the author's westerns, written early in his spectacularly successful career, contains "Bounty Hunters," "Forty Lashes Less One," and "Gunsights," featuring a Bonny-and-Clyde pair of gunslingers.
--from Amazon.com: When Elmore Leonard was just starting out as a writer, a man could make a living writing Westerns, especially if he was good at it--and Elmore Leonard was one of the best. In his Western novels, you can see the earliest traces of themes that would emerge in his contemporary crime novels. Although sheriffs and cavalry men look a little different than cops and G-men, Leonard's outlaws, bounty hunters, and mercenaries are the same in both worlds: tough and determined because they know that their lives depend on presence of mind and skillful execution of the task at hand, as The Bounty Hunters and Gunsights reveal. And Leonard's prose is even more stripped down than usual, reduced to the bare essentials of plot and character. The reader's told exactly what he or she needs to know, and not one bit of information more.
   Of the three novels reprinted here (plus the other five in Western Roundup #2 and Western Roundup #3), Forty Lashes Less One is something of an anomaly. It's set in the Yuma Territorial Prison, sure, but the year is 1909. Eventually, it becomes clear that what we're dealing with here is actually a prison-break novel in which at least half a dozen factions are playing off each other, with two men at the center: Harold Jackson and Raymond San Carlos, the only two nonwhite convicts, who get put through a grueling physical regimen by a missionary warden who thinks it'll help them develop self-esteem. With its multiple perspectives and serpentine plot twists, this is ultimately as good an escape story as Out of Sight - if not better. (-Ron Hogan -)]

[--from Amazon.com: Escape from Five Shadows is another great Elmore Leonard prison-break novel set in the Old West, with Corey Bowen as an innocent man looking to escape from a work camp run by a sadistic embezzler willing to kill to keep his scheme running. As always with Leonard, there are no throwaway lines, and success comes to those who act with competence and conviction. In Last Stand at Saber River, a Confederate veteran returns to his Arizona homestead to find that Yankee mercenaries are occupying his home. That situation's bound to change, and not peacefully. In The Law at Randado, a young deputy must prove himself to a rich man who represents the legal authority in their community. These three short novels from the early stages of Leonard's career are like blueprints for the crime fiction he would come to master in the 1980s and '90s, and will prove a delightful surprise to any of his fans. If you don't think you like Westerns, read any of these stories and you may find yourself reconsidering your taste for the genre. (-Ron Hogan-)]

[--from Amazon.com: "The basic structure of an Elmore Leonard plot," Larry Beinhart explains in How to Write a Mystery, "is that a big tough guy pushes a little tough guy. The little guy doesn't take it. He shoves back. The little guy is the kinda guy, the harder you shove him, the more trouble he's gonna be. In the end, the big guy really wishes he'd picked someone else to shove. When Leonard started he wrote westerns, and in those early books you can see the bones without an X-ray. I recommend Valdez Is Coming to anyone who wants to understand the structure of an Elmore Leonard novel."
   When part-time constable Bob Valdez tries to put together a compensation package for a woman whose husband was killed in a case of mistaken identity, the matter quickly escalates into a brutal struggle to regain honor and dignity. There's not a wasted moment; every scene, every line of dialogue moves the story forward to the inevitable showdown where, as Valdez says, "you get one time, mister, to prove who you are." The second novel in this volume, Hombre--perhaps Leonard's best-known Western novel--is just as relentlessly plot-driven, with characters that reveal their psychological complexity strictly through what they do and say as they struggle to make their way to safety across a hot desert in the aftermath of a stagecoach holdup. The only difference between these two novels and classic Leonard crime novels like Get Shorty or Out of Sight is the time and place. Other than that, you've got two classic tales of hard-boiled professionals who know that every step they take is a matter of laying their reputations and their lives on the line. (-Ron Hogan-)]

Screenplays:

Joe Kidd (1972, Universal, 88 minutes. release date: 14 July 1972 USA) Directed by John Sturges. Screenplay by Elmore Leonard.
[Western. An ex-bounty hunter reluctantly helps a wealthy landowner and his henchmen track down a Mexican revolutionary leader.]  / (Джо Кидд)

Mr. Majestyk (1974, Mirisch Company/United Artists, 103 minutes. release date: 17 July 1974 USA) Directed by Richard Fleischer. Screenplay by Elmore Leonard.
[*Original screenplay, later novelized by Leonard (NY: Dell, 1974)
--A farmer battles a group of evil and powerful men who want to drive him out of business so that they can buy his land for cheap.
--He didn't want to be hero... until the day they pushed him too far. ]

High Noon, Part 2: The Return of Will Kane (1980, TV CBS [Columbia Broadcasting System]. release date: 15 November 1980 USA) Directed by Jerry Jameson. Teleplay by Elmore Leonard.
[Western. Will Kane returns to his hometown of Hadleyville with his wife Amy for the first time in years since his famous gunfight with Frank Miller and his gang to face a new menace of his town in the grip of a bounty-hunting marshal named J.D. Ward and his two gun-happy deputies pursuing Ben Irons, a drifter wanted dead or alive for a crime he didn't commit whom he asks Kane to help him which sets the stage for a second major gunfight within the town.]

Stick (1985, Universal, 109 minutes) Directed & Starring by Burt Reynolds. Screenplay by Elmore Leonard & Joseph C. Stinson.
[*based on Leonard's novel of the same title]

52 Pick-Up (1986, Cannon Group, 111 minutes) Directed by John Frankenheimer. Screenplay by Elmore Leonard & John Steppling.
[*based on Leonard's novel of the same title]

The Rosary Murders (1987, New Line Cinema, 105 minutes) Directed by Fred Walton. Screenplay by Elmore Leonard & Fred Walton.
[--based on the novel by William X. Kienzle]    / (Убийства с четками)

Desperado: Badlands Justice (1988, TV NBC [National Broadcasting Corporation], release date: 17 December 1989 USA) Directed by E.W. Swackhamer. Writing credits: Elmore Leonard (creator), Andrew Mirisch (story) and Leslie Bohem (story & teleplay)
[Western. Another good adventure with the Desperado! In this fourth outing for Alex Mcarthur (as the outlaw Duell McCall) the story revolves around the hero trying to track down some criminals who steal land & claims by killing the rightful owners. As usual there is plenty of good action sequences with some mighty fanciful shooting! Patricia Charbonneau (Emily) is the raven haired actress who plays the romantic interest in this episode although not much goes on between her and Duell. (from imdb.com)

Cat Chaser (1989, Viacom, 97 minutes) Directed by Abel Ferrara. Screenplay by Elmore Leonard & Joe Borrelli.
[*based on Leonard's novel of the same title]

>   Also Elmore Leonard is author of filmscripts for Encyclopedia Britannica Films, including Settlement of the Mississippi Valley, Boy of Spain, Frontier Boy, and Julius Caesar, and of a recruiting film for the Franciscans.
[*With the money from the film sale of 'Hombre', Leonard nevertheless felt confident enough to quit the Campbell-Ewald advertising agency and devote all of his time to writing. What followed were eight years representing the only apparent lull in his career as a novelist. In reality Leonard wrote prodigiously between 1961 and 1969, though what he produced was an odd assortment of educational film scripts (mostly for Encyclopedia Brittanica Films) on subjects ranging from Julius Caesar to the Settlement of the Mississippi Valley, even a recruiting film for the Franciscan Order. True to his avocation Leonard sustained himself through his drier years by relying on his pen until circumstances would conspire to give his career a rebirth and his writing endeavors a new direction. (from Steven Hartman's article)
--There are some interesting touchstones in 'Touch' but "you had to be there." Juvenal is based on a real life character; a Franciscan monk who came up from the Amazon to "star" in Elmore’s first movie, a Franciscan Brothers recruiting film he wrote in the early Sixties. The real Juvenal did not however have the stigmata. (from The Dutch Forum Archives on EL's site)

Articles, Essays & Introductions:

Impressions of Murder (12 November, 1978, The Detroit News [Newspaper Sunday Magazine])

Introduction by Elmore Leonard (for the novel "Willy Remembers" by Irwin Faust [NY: Arbor House, 1983])

Quitting (chapter by Elmore Leonard in the book "The Courage to Change: Personal Conversations about Alcoholism with Dennis Wholey", edited by Dennis Wholey, [Boston: Houghton, 1984 (or NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1986-?*)] ).
[--The former host of PBS- TV's Late Night America presents the success stories of recovering alcoholic celebrities, including Elmore Leonard, Jerry Falwell, Pete Townshend, and Grace Slick. The book in the genre "Self-Help".
* The 1970's was a momentous decade for Leonard, not least because of his discovery that he was not a heavy social drinker, but an alcoholic. Leonard: ''I joined Alcoholics Anonymous in 1974, and on Jan. 21, 1977, at 9 in the morning, I had my last drink. Now, I have absolutely no desire for booze. I used to have a personality problem - I thought that if I wasn't drinking I'd be bored. Since I quit, I'm never bored. Never.'' ]

Introduction by Elmore Leonard (for his novel - Touch [NY: Arbor House, 1987])

On Richard Bissell (chapter by Elmore Leonard in the book "Rediscoveries II" [Carroll & Graf, 1988])
[--"Important Writers select their favorite work of neglected fiction". Chapter On Richard Bissell by Elmore Leonard]

Introduction by Elmore Leonard (for the novel "Sprinkled with Ruby Dust" by H. N. Swanson [NY: Warner Books, 1989])

Introduction by Elmore Leonard (for the book "Detroit: The Renaissance City" by Balthazar Korab [Spradlin & Associates, 08/01/1989]
[--104 pages hardcover edition,  with photos of Detroit]

"Everyman": Great characters but where's the love interest?" (18 April 1999, The New York Times magazine [Newspaper Sunday Magazine],  4/18/99)
[--"Morality Bites" - "The Best Ideas, Stories and Inventions of the Last thousand Years" ; Article by Elmore Leonard]

Elmore Leonard. For The Love Of Books. (chapter by Elmore Leonard in the book "For The Love Of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most", ed. by Ronald B.Shwartz [NY: Grosset/Putnam, 1999, hardcover (297 pp.) ]
[-- A book edited by the author of essays and reviews for The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and The Nation. It includes the writings of Nadine Gorndimer, Elmore Leonard, Kurt Vonnegut, John Updike, Dorsi Lessing, Joyce Carol Oates and many others.
--115 of the world's greatest writers. Landmark collection of short literary essays. Destined to be a late-modern classic. One of the most important literary events of the year 1999. Lovingly transcribed by Ronald B. Shwartz, a trial lawyer by profession and lover of literature by avocation, from conversations with the authors, who speak in great detail about their favorite book or books, those that have had the greatest influence on them as human beings and as writers. In his moving Introduction, Shwartz traces the book's beginnings to the "road not taken" in his youth, when he chose the Law over Literature and was jolted by a law professor who announced: "Up to this point, you have read books about the Big Questions. You will now read books about the little questions". This book is the successful lawyer's way of compensating for his abandonment of the Big in favor of the more lucrative little. Some of the contributors include Diane Ackerman, Dave Barry, Ann Beattie, Penelope Fitzgerald, Gail Godwin, Nadine Gordimer, John Irving, Tracy Kidder, Elmore Leonard, Doris Lessing, Norman Mailer, James McBride, Frank McCourt, Arthur Miller, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Ondaatje, Cynthia Ozick, Robert B. Parker, Mario Puzo, Alan Sillitoe, William Styron, John Updike, Kurt Vonnegut, and Tobias Wolff, Herman Wouk among so many others. Each of them talks about books with love and ardor. Their personal pantheons, the list of books and writers that have meant the most to them, are revealing in ways that they themselves may not be conscious of. An incomparable feast for the intellect, the heart and the senses.
--"Aside from the speedboat ride of a plot...there's the pleasure of listening to these masters play with the language and conventions of the mystery genre, manipulating cliches...and dopey lines, picking up threads previous chapters writers have left behind while deftly upping the ante." -New York Times Book Review
--Publisher notes: In South Florida, everyone wants to get a head. But not just any head. A very famous human head--severed and snugged away in a cryonic container. A head that could spark a revolution and change the course of history. Everybody wants a piece of the noggin: rotund gangster Big Joey G., a 102-year-old environmentalist, hard-boiled Miami reporter Britt Montero, lawyer Jake Lassiter, and a would-be dictator in exile--with ex-president Jimmy Carter and a lovable manatee named Booger thrown in for good measure. With bodies piling up its anybodys guess what will happen from one chapter to the next, as an all-star line-up of Florida's finest writers take turns at taking this outrageously original novel to the limit--and beyond.
A team effort by a veritable who's who of South Florida's funkiest storytellers--including Elmore Leonard, Edna Buchanan, James H. Hall, John Dufresne, Paul Levine, and Dave Barry--"Naked Came the Manatee" is a hilarious and harrowing suspense thriller that could only take place in the dark underworld of the Sunshine State.]

Hail Mary (7 May 2000, New York Times [Newspaper], Section 6, Page 85)  [Essay]
[--Essay by Elmore Leonard in "Spirituality: With and Without a Prayer ." ]

Introduction by Elmore Leonard (for the novel "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" by George V. Higgins [Owl Books; September 2000])
[paperback edition of one of the favorite writers of Leonard]

The Grey Area: Truth as Entertainment (2 October 2000, Forbes magazine) 
[--"McHeard is the Word" essay by Elmore Leonard in the "What is Truth?" Supplement]

Foreward by Elmore Leonard (for the novel "The Professional" by H. C. Heinz [NY: Da Capo Press, Cambridge, 2001 (1991*-?) reprint])
[--Introduction by Elmore Leonard for the boxing novel]

Imagine Pitching this in Hollywood (8 April 2001, New York Times [Newspaper], Section 2, Page 15)
[--Elmore Leonard's Reflections on the film "Chopper". ]

Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle (16 July 2001, The New York Times [Newspaper], 7/16/2001, Section 2, Page 1)
aka:  Elmore's Rules of Writing (May 2002, Crime Factory)
aka: Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing.
aka: If It Sounds Like Writing, Rewrite It.
[--This article by Elmore Leonard is part of the "Writers on Writing" Series in which writers explore literary themes.
*10 + 1 rules. Leonard: "These are rules I’ve picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I’m writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what’s taking place in the story. If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules. Still, you might look them over."]

Элмор Леонард: 10 правил прозы.

Thank God for Robert Johnson (chapter by Elmore Leonard in the book "Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: A Musical Journey", ed. by Peter Guralnick, Robert Santelli, Holly George-Warren and Christopher John Farley. [NY: Amistad Press, September 16, 2003, hardcover, 151 Pages]) [Essay]
[--Publisher Comments: This volume — a companion to the groundbreaking 7-part documentary series Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues — represents a literary sampler every bitas vibrant and original and diverse asthe films and music that inspired it. Included in this stunning collection are newly commissioned essays by David Halberstam, Hilton Als, Suzan-Lori Parks, Elmore Leonard, Luc Sante, John Edgar Wideman, and others; timeless archival pieces by the likes of Stanley Booth, Paul Oliver, and Mack McCormick; evocative color illustrations and rarevintage photography; illuminating and in-depth conversations and portraits of musicians, ranging from Robert Johnson and Bessie Smith to John Lee Hooker and Eric Clapton; lyrics of legendary blues compositions; personal essays by the series directors Martin Scorsese, Charles Burnett, Richard Pearce, Wim Wenders, Marc Levin, Mike Figgis, and Clint Eastwood; and excerpts from such literary masters as James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison, Eudora Welty and Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes and William Faulkner.
The result is a unique and timeless celebration of the blues, from writers and artists as esteemed and revered as the music that moved them. In these pages one not only reads about the blues, one hears them, feels them, lives them. Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues is more than a timeless collection of great writing to be savored and shared: it is an unforgettable initiation into the very essence of American music and culture.
--This is the official companion book to the groundbreaking seven-part PBS series airing this fall, a personal and impressionistic portrait of the blues as viewed through the lens of seven famous directors. 75 color photos.]

Interviews & References:

Gregg Sutter. Interview with E. Leonard (August 1980, Monthly Detroit)
Gregg Sutter. "Getting It Right: Researching Elmore Leonard's Novels, Part I" (Winter 1986, Armchair Detective, 19 [p. 4-19])
Gregg Sutter. "Getting It Right: Researching Elmore Leonard's Novels, Part II" (Spring 1987, Armchair Detective, 19 [p. 160-172])
[--Reflections on five years of doing research for Elmore Leonard.
*In 1981 Leonard hired Gregg Sutter, a longtime fan-interviewer, as a researcher to help him with the backgrounds of his novels. Sutter began working for Leonard as he was writing "Split Image" (1982). Leonard explains how Sutter aids his writing : "Maybe I'll tell him to find me a bailbondsman in Miami. Gregg will interview a half-dozen until hi finds one who understand what I need and is willing to cooperate. Gregg will do  all the hard work; he'll interview the man, record and transcribe what he says. Then I'll visit the office, look around and see how it can fit in the book, and I'll ask specific questions." (from article by Frederick William Zackel)]

Joel M. Lyczak. "An Interview with Elmore Leonard" (Summer 1983, Armchair Detective, 16 [p. 235-240])

Bill Kelley. "This Pen for Hire" (December 1984, American Film, 10 [p. 52-56]) [interview]

Ben Yagoda. "Elmore Leonard's Rogues' Gallery" (30 December 1984, New York Times [p. 20]) [interview]

Robert S. Prescott. "Making A Killing: With 'Glitz' Leonard Finally Brings in the Gold" (22 April 1985, Newsweek, 105 [p. 62-67])

Jean W. Ross, Interview with Elmore Leonard [in the book "Contemporary Authors", New Revision Series, vol. 28. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989 [p. 284-287])

David Geherin. Elmore Leonard (Literature and Life Series) [NY: Continuum, 1989. (xiii, 158 pp.) Hardcover]

Joseph Hynes. "High Noon in Detroit' : Elmore Leonard's Career" (Winter 1991, Journal of Popular Culture, 25 [p. 183-184, 186])

Elmore Leonard's Criminal Records: Profile of a Writer [1991, Arena. Video Format: VHS 61 min.] Produced and directed by Mike Dibb & Rosana Horsley. Starring Elmore Leonard)
[--Originally a BBC documentary, this video is essentially a conversation with Leonard about the way he does the research for his books. Fans should get a kick out of Leonard revisiting many of the cops, judges, bail bondsmen and the like who have inspired his work. Leonard also reads from some of his work.]

"Byline Showtime" [1992. Final espisode of series for Showtime cable network] [film-essay]
[Elmore Leonard wrote, played self, in film essay in final espisode of short-form writers' series "Byline Showtime" for Showtime cable network, 1992. Directed, photographed by John Heller. Featured appearance by Paul Lazar.]

Writer’s Dreaming. Interviews by Naomi Epel [NY: Carol Southern Books, 1993 (xxi, 292 pp.) Hardcover]

"A Conversation with Elmore Leonard" by Dale L. Walker, (May 1994, Louis L’Amour Western Magazine)  [interview]

"Regular Guys—and Gals—With a Twist", by Tom Nolan (Sum/Fll 1997, Mary Higgins Clark Mystery Magazine)
[bibliographic material: Elmore Leonard on Chili Palmer]

Martin Amis Interviews "The Dickens of Detroit" (23 January, 1998)
[Interview with Leonard. The Writers’ Guild Theatre, Beverly Hills, January 23, 1998. Sponsored by Writers Bloc; Andrea Grossman, Founder.]

An Evening with Elmore Leonard [January 27, 1998. The Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, Format: Audio Cassette, 60 min]
[*Recording of a talk]

Patrick McGilligan. "Get Dutch" (March/April 1998, Film Comment, 34 [p. 43-52]) [interview]

Elmore Leonard: A Reader’s Checklist and Reference Guide [CheckerBee Publishing, 1999. Paperback]

James E. Devlin. Elmore Leonard (Twayne Author Series) [NY: Twayne Publishers, 1999. (xvi, 164 pp.) Hardcover]

Audio Interview - Fresh Air, 1999. Hosted by Terri Gross from WHYY-FM [February 24, 1999. Format: Audio Cassette, 1 hour]

Audio Interview, WBUR - Boston - 2000 [September 20, 2000. Format: Audio Cassette, 2 hours]

Paul Challen. Get Dutch (Biography) [Toronto: ECW Press, 2000. (182 pp., ill.) Trade Paperback]

Elmore Leonard. (article by Frederick William Zackel). [in the book "American Hard-Boiled Crime Writers", ed. by George Parker Anderson & Julie B. Anderson, /DLB vol. 226./ Detroit, San Francisco, London, Boston, Woodbridge, Conn.: The Gale Group, 2000. (p. 233-246)]

Elmore Leonard, Criminal Conversations [Winter, No. 164, 2002-2003, The Paris Review (magazine-digest)]

The Best Advice I Ever Got (April 2003, GQ [Gentlemen's Quarterly Men's Magazines, v73 #4])
[symposium: Peter Mayle, Elmore Leonard, Chuck Klosterman, Will Self, David Rakoff, Ted Heller, Tim Cahill, Donald Altrim & T. C. Boyle]