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Road Dogs (2009)

Not the best Leonard, but still an amusing little novel. I knew one of the main characters was the guy from "Out of Sight," but I didn't realize the other two were from other Leonard novels. Maybe I would have appreciated it more if I had read those others first. The plot was pretty twisty, and i...

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Unha com Carne (2009)

A somewhat confusing crime thriller that has characters from several of author Leonard's prior novels coming together.Thriller - Jack Foley (Out of Sight (1996)) befriends Cundo Rey (LaBrava (1983)) in a FL prison. Cundo pays a lawyer who gets Foley's sentence reduced. When Foley is released a fe...

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Naked Came the Manatee (1998)

Once upon a time, 20 or so journalists at the Long Island newspaper Newsday, posed as a single writer named Penelope Ashe and wrote a really bad sex novel called Naked Came the Stranger.In 1997, Dave Barry wrote the first chapter of Naked Came the Manatee and passed it to the right, in the tradit...

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Cuba Libre (2002)

I'm in this weird place with the books I'm reading. I'm not really into any of them, although they're mainly well written books by good authors. I don't know why it's been this way. I'm just sort of feeling complacent. Jumping from book to book without really caring, sometimes not even sure which...

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Pagan Babies (2002)

read this back in february and now it is the 18th of december...2014. haven't kept up with my reviews this year...oh well...this one starts:the church had become a tomb where forty-seven bodies turned to leather and stains had been lying on the concrete floor the past five years, though not lyin...

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Valdez Is Coming (2002)

Synopsis/blurb...........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 ...

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Killshot (2003)

Who would be more dangerous, two sociopathic killers teaming up or a middle-aged couple who could use some marriage counseling?Armand Degas (a/k/a Blackbird) sometimes does contract killing for a group of mobsters in Michigan and Canada, and while visiting his old hometown after murdering a man i...

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Get Shorty (2002)

Elmore Leonard had a bad Hollywood experience in the mid-‘80s of working on a film adaptation of LaBrava with Dustin Hoffman. Leonard did multiple unpaid rewrites at the actor’s request, but then Hoffman bailed on the project after six months of meetings leaving Leonard with nothing to show for ...

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Mr. Paradise (2005)

Here's the situation: An old man having fun in his fancy room with a young hooker on his lap. Suddenly two guys called Carl and Art storm into the house, heavily armed. The old man and the girl are unimpressed"She said to the old man, "Friends of yours?"The old man squinted at them like he was th...

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Last Stand at Saber River (2002)

Paul Cable, having fought on the Confederate side during the war, has returned with his family to his homestead on the Saber River, only to find that his land has been taken by the Kidstons', two wealthy brothers loyal to the Union. Cable thought he'd left the fighting behind him, but it seems he...

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Touch (2002)

What do you get when a defunct Southern evangelist and a politically militant Catholic traditionalist discover, at the same time, a former Franciscan monk who seems to be able to heal by touch? You get one hoot of a tongue-and-cheek read. I mean this is Elmore Leonard we’re talking about here.The...

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Be Cool (2005)

BE COOL offers a second entertaining installment in the career of Chili Palmer - originally a Miami loan-shark but now a big-shot in Hollywood. Chili gets interested in the music business acting for a girl-singer with a lot of soul. Trouble is, everything that happens to Chili strikes him as bein...

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The Switch (2002)

Elmore Leonard is known for his crazy-good, realistic dialogue who’s also a skilled and imaginative storyteller able to create memorable characters and plots. But every great writer puts out a stinker every now and then and The Switch is without question a stinker! A pair of low-level criminals, ...

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Forty Lashes Less One (2002)

Surprisingly funny Western that takes place mostly within the walls of Yuma prison in the early part of the 20th century. Harold is the only black inmate at the soon-to-be-closed Yuma, and Raymond is the only Indian, which makes them the targets of derision. Shelby, a prisoner with connections, m...

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Maximum Bob (2002)

If you have seen the ORIGINAL version of Mel Brooks’ movie “Blazing Saddles,” then you have a fair idea of what to expect from “Maximum Bob.” The time frames are different but the basic attitudes are the same. This book was published in 1992, over two decades ago as I write this review, and it wa...

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Pronto (2002)

For me, there's John Steinbeck, Elmore Leonard and Flannery O'Connor and then all other authors. That said, Leonard's work is championship caliber or DNP due to league substance violation. Hit or miss. His 1993 novel Pronto actually lopes along for 241 pages occupying the middle of the pack. Rath...

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Mr Majestyk (2007)

When a wannabe tough guy tries to muscle in on Vincent Majestyk's melon farm, Majestyk lets him know in no uncertain terms that he's not welcome. Majestyk, a US Army war veteran, now has only one goal in mind: get his crop in and save his farm. He's not about to let some two-bit hustler dictate t...

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Unknown Man #89 (2002)

#11 or 12 from leonard for me...kindle...this one dedicated "for peter"there's a quote early on:a prompt man is a lonely man. ---andrew donahuemaybe he's related to phil, i dunno.story begins:a friend of ryan's said to him one time, "yeah, but at least you don't take any shit from anybody."ryan...

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The Hot Kid (2006)

Chronicling the kills of Carl Webster, a gun toting prodigy working as a US Marshal, THE HOT KID pits wanna-be gangsters and bank robbers (and some reluctant gun molls) against a man who is as much legend as the revered outlaws of the time.Carl Webster was inducted into the life of crime at an ea...

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Tishomingo Blues (2003)

looks like this will be the 18th from leonard for me.kindle...looks like a charlie hoke story...and this is unusual...a contents page and each chapter heading has the first sentence...i miss all those old cold-war cartoons...bullwinkle & rocky...that narrator's voice providing the title and an al...

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City Primeval (2005)

Elmore Leonard a beaucoup officié dans le western avant de se spécialiser dans la policier. On se souvient de lui surtout pour son impressionnante biblio policière adaptée avec plus ou moins de succès : Punch Créole -probablement le plus connu- qui deviendra Jacky Brown, adapté par un certain Que...

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Riding the Rap (2002)

I’ll tell you something: my love/hate relationship with Elmore Leonard has just shifted to slightly more into the love side of the equation. I didn’t much care for Pronto but I liked the audio book version of Raylan quite a bit. So I thought I’d leave it up to Riding the Rap to decide if Elmore L...

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Trail of the Apache and Other Stories (2007)

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...

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52 Pick Up (2005)

Detroit businessman Harry Mitchell is a self-made man, happily married for over twenty-two years and a pillar of the community. But then he slips - he meets a young 'model' and begins an affair. One night he arrives at his girlfriend's apartment and finds more than he bargained for. Two masked me...

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Cat Chaser (2005)

Continuing with my recent pulp-crime kick I turned to the biggest name in the genre, Mr. Elmore Leonard. I had previously read killshot and watched the series 'Justified,' and any avid movie-goer has probably seen one of the many adaptations of his works ('Get Shorty,' '52 Pick-Up,' 'Out of Sight...

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Escape from Five Shadows (2002)

This is a good, taut western. Leonard excels at writing about laconic men being tough, and his protagonist here, Corey Bowen, is no exception to that rule--nor is his villain, Frank Renda, which adds a lot to the book's success. Despite being quite short--well under 200 pages--this one weaves tog...

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The Big Bounce (2003)

Jack Ryan is a minor criminal arrested for a fight at a pick-up baseball game. Local Justice of the Peace Mr Majestic is a baseball fan, and on the possibility hes opponent carried a knife, Jack is released with no charges laid. Ryan is a former baseball prospect who never quite made it to the pr...

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The Law at Randado (2002)

My problem with most Westerns is the protagonist is almost always without fault. You know the type if you’ve ever read a Louis L'Amour story: clean-cut, above doubt or suspicion, always acting disinterestedly. Those kinds of protagonists are boring to me. When I read something, I want the charact...

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The Bounty Hunters (2002)

Assuredly, from the piles of critical praise he received over his prolific career, Elmore Leonard is skilled at what he does. He's written novels, screenplays, short stories and though not every piece of work has garnered critical acclaim, he's one of the structural foundations of modern crime wr...

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Hombre (2002)

I'm in a big Western mood at the moment, and amidst rewatching a bunch of Clint Eastwood classics, I realized I'd never read a Western novel (unless you count The Gunslinger, which... let's not). So I bought a couple and decided to read the very short Hombre first. While not the classic people ma...

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Gunsights (2002)

Bren Early and Dana Moon are occasional partners and uneasy friends who have been through more than their share of harrowing adventures together over the years. But it looks like fate may land them on opposite sides of a land war-- Moon has taken the job of Indian Affairs agent, tasked with prote...

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Bandits (2003)

I picked this book because Elmore Leonard was described to me as the “greatest American author,” and it raised my curiosity, for I have heard that term used loosely with a lot of “greats.” Perhaps “greatest” applies to the noir he was writing in: crime with a touch of black humour.The situation i...

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Rum Punch (2004)

I picked up a copy of Rum Punch from a place I was staying on a recent vacation. Having somehow missed it among all the Elmore Leonard I had read, having also solid reason to believe it would lie neglected on the shelf where I found it, I decided to give it a new home. According to the message pe...

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Gold Coast (2002)

2.5 stars.Title this review, “The Time One of My Favorite Authors Wrote a Book I Didn’t Like Very Much.”It happens. R.E.M. gives us Around the Sun, Quentin Tarantino writes and directs Death Proof, Michael Fassbender appears in Jonah Hex. Even our most reliable artists stumble from time to tim...

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The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard (2004)

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 t...

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When the Women Come Out to Dance (2002)

The New York Times has called Elmore Leonard "the greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever." Of course, there's much more to his writing than just crime, and there's no better way to show the broad range of this author's talents than with a collection. It offers variety for diehard fans an...

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A Coyote's in the House (2004)

Title: A Coyote's in the HouseAuthor: Elmore LeonardIllustrator: Lauren ChildGenres: Fable, Animals, Children LiteraturePaperback, 154 pagesPublished by Puffin Books, 2005 (first published in 2004)Antwan is a coyote, wild as they come. He likes his meat raw, not out of can. He likes hanging with ...

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The Moonshine War (1985)

I really liked this book but I can see how it's really not for everyone. I don't usually venture into the historical fiction genre, but when I saw this book at the library I had to pick it up. I've been wanting to read an Elmore Leonard book for quite a while now, and this is a good one to get ...

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Up in Honey's Room (2007)

After shooting his way through Prohibition in “The Hot Kid,” US Marshal Carl Webster returns for another adventure during World War II. Carl is married now, but his wife Louly is a Marine gunner, who is currently at a base teaching new recruits. Carl is still living in Oklahoma, but heads for D...

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Split Images (2002)

Golf isn't doing it any more for Robbie Daniels. A few years back, he shot another man on a duck blind, killing him. Maybe it was an accident, maybe not, but part of Robbie Daniels enjoyed it and wanted to do it again. And Robbie has the time and money available to a man who has always been rich,...

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Moment of Vengeance and Other Stories (2006)

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 sc...

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Stick (1983)

Elmore Leonard is one of my three favorite authors. That said, his work is either dynamite TNT or a bottle rocket, which might be a gracious way of saying he can write a dud. With forty-five novels and at least forty-two short stories to his credit, not every one of Dutch's enterprises was going ...

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Blood Money and Other Stories (2006)

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Freaky Deaky (2002)

Former bomb squad detective Chris Mankowski has trouble fall into his lap in the form of Greta Wyatt, aka Ginger Jones, an actress who has been raped by local millionaire Woody Ricks. But what does that have to do with Skip and Robin, the former hippies blackmailing Ricks, or his driver Donnell?...

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Elmore Leonard: La Brava; Cat Chaser; Split Images (1992)

Three Complete NovelsFrom "the best American writer of crime fiction alive" (Newsweek), three thrilling, bestselling mysteries in one hardcover volume. La Brava, Cat Chaser, and Split Images received rave reviews and make it clear why this New York Times bestselling author has been hailed coast ...

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Swag (2004)

So this is where Tarantino found his inspiration! A good read. Often it doesn’t feel like a crime novel so much as like one of those low-key dirty realist novels by authors like Frederick Barthelme, about people with humdrum lives to whom nothing much exciting happens (which is exactly what makes...

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LaBrava (2003)

“A while ago somewhere I don’t know when I was watching a movie with a friend. I fell in love with the actress. She was playing a part that I could understand.” -Neil Young, “A Man Needs a Maid”It took a chapter or two, after we’re finally introduced to Jean Shaw and what she means...

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Jackie Brown (1997)

The inimitable Elmore Leonard follows up his bestseller Maximum Bob with a punch--Rum Punch--where a gun dealer, a flight attendant, and a bail bondsman make interesting bedfellows. When Jackie gets caught smuggling her boss's gun money on the airline she works for, she hatches a plan with her ba...

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Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing (2007)

I picked up this book after starting NaNoWriMo – I figured since NaNo would be my first actual writing project, I should get some guidance. And since I didn’t have a ton of time, what with all the writing going on, this one looked perfect – it was small and compact, perfect for what I was looking...

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Three-Ten to Yuma and Other Stories (2006)

Seven tales of good men in tough situationsWe know all about Elmore Leonard these days, the master of the underworld dialogue and plots like corkscrews. It was a surprise to hear he made his name writing tales of the 19th century western frontier but no surprise at all to find that this early wor...

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52 Pickup

She had her coat on, ready to leave. “You quitting already? It’s only five-thirty.” “I’ve taken my clothes off eleven times,” the girl said, “and put them back on again. That’s enough for one day.” “Where is everybody?” “You mean Doreen?” “Well, now that you mention it.” “I don’t know. I haven’t ...

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Raylan: A Novel

The only trouble, they were staying with him now, moved into his house, Cuba believed, confident their daddy would protect them, keep them from going to prison. If they weren’t his blood Pervis would have fired them years ago. Once Cuba did the two fuckups, the old man ought to thank him for taki...

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Mr. Paradise A Novel

Paradise A Novel TWENTY-ONEDELSA AND HARRIS PICKED UP A warrant at Thirty-sixth District Court that would allow them to enter Carl Fontana’s residence, then waited for Jackie to come out of a pretrial exam. In the car Jackie couldn’t get over the defense lawyer describing Ardis Nichols, the defen...

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Djibouti (2010)

Dara was out on deck now with Helene; Billy stood at the bow watching Xavier sweep broken glass into the sea, talking to him. Dara saying Billy surprised her; he was so cool the way he pulled it off, putting the rifle in Kwame’s hands. “I never know who he’s gonna be,” Helene said. “Sometimes he’...

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Charlie Martz and Other Stories (2015)

It had turned off the highway a moment before and now came trailing a swirling cloud of fine dust and with a rattling sound of stones striking the underbody. The three men stood at the edge of the road waiting for the vehicle to pass. But when it seemed almost to be going by, its front end dipped...

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