I was surprised to read that Elmore Leonard died. He seemed to be able to write forever.
I first heard of him from my mother, who learned of him through George Will. This is from the Reading (Penn.) Eagle of February 17, 1985.
I've always preferred mystery/detective novels over any other so it was good to get a lead on someone "new." Except Mr. Leonard had been publishing for over 30 years at this point. The first book I read was 52 Pickup. Why the title stuck with me all this time I could not say. It was about some man in Detroit with a lot of problems. There were a lot of Leonard books about Detroit.
The closest I came to being "hooked" on his work would be through audiobooks. His style lends itself beautifully to the spoken word and I listened to everything the library had. The Hot Kid is a perfect marriage of story and narrator. This would be my favorite audiobook ever. The Hot Kid came out in 2005, the year Elmore Leonard turned 80.
Some writers do their best stuff at the beginning and by the end they've re-invented themselves too many times. John D. MacDonald was so fine when he was cranking out sparsely written pulps. Then there were those tomes like Condominium where he'd lost his way. Or at least lost readers like me.
Elmore Leonard stuck to his guns and his rules. Try to leave out the parts that readers tend to skip.
I first heard of him from my mother, who learned of him through George Will. This is from the Reading (Penn.) Eagle of February 17, 1985.
I've always preferred mystery/detective novels over any other so it was good to get a lead on someone "new." Except Mr. Leonard had been publishing for over 30 years at this point. The first book I read was 52 Pickup. Why the title stuck with me all this time I could not say. It was about some man in Detroit with a lot of problems. There were a lot of Leonard books about Detroit.
The closest I came to being "hooked" on his work would be through audiobooks. His style lends itself beautifully to the spoken word and I listened to everything the library had. The Hot Kid is a perfect marriage of story and narrator. This would be my favorite audiobook ever. The Hot Kid came out in 2005, the year Elmore Leonard turned 80.
Some writers do their best stuff at the beginning and by the end they've re-invented themselves too many times. John D. MacDonald was so fine when he was cranking out sparsely written pulps. Then there were those tomes like Condominium where he'd lost his way. Or at least lost readers like me.
Elmore Leonard stuck to his guns and his rules. Try to leave out the parts that readers tend to skip.