BOOK GROUPIE: Elmore Leonard has a new fan

“Elmore Leonard, where have you been all my life? All the hours I’ve scanned shelves looking for good books, I could’ve been reading yours.
“And now I will. Every. Single. One.”

The above is a copy of an e-mail I sent to author Elmore Leonard.

I sent it through Leonard’s researcher, Gregg Sutter, because Leonard doesn’t own a computer. The author’s written more than 40 novels using a pen, paper and typewriter.
Some may ridicule his technique, but only until they check out his stats. Leonard’s books include numerous best-sellers, and several have been made into movies.

A movie, “Get Shorty,” was my first introduction to Leonard. The film is based on his book of the same title, published in 1991. When I saw “Get Shorty” in about 1995, I thought it was great, but I didn’t take time to research its origins. It wasn’t until a friend of mine recently went on and on about Leonard that I decided to read his work. Thank you, friend.

I checked out two Leonard books from the library, “The Hot Kid” and “Road Dogs.” “The Hot Kid” follows several larger-than-life characters in the 1930s, all of them involved in bank robberies. The characters’ lives collide in a sometimes humorous, occasionally scary mix of sentimentality and violence.

My favorite “The Hot Kid” character is U. S. Marshal Carl Webster. At age 15, Webster shot his first felon. Webster’s addiction to justice and limelight leads him to a career in law enforcement. The character is likeable and charismatic.

Those same traits show up in a “Road Dogs” main character. Charming Jack Foley is a bank robber who’s just started serving 30 years in a Florida penitentiary. He meets another convict, Cundo Rey, who introduces Jack to a cutthroat attorney. The attorney gets Jack released in a matter of weeks, and Jack relocates to California to stay in Cundo’s home.
When Jack arrives there, he becomes entangled in the lives of Cundo’s friends and enemies. Almost everyone who knows Cundo wants a piece of his fortune, and they all see Jack as a threat to getting it.

“Road Dogs” is an entertaining ride. I was sad to reach the end, until I discovered that a few of the characters are also featured in other Leonard books. I’ll be sure to pick up those books, as well as any others with “Elmore Leonard” on the cover.
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Miller welcomes book suggestions. Read her
blog at www.anitalaydonmiller .blogspot.com
or e-mail anita.l.miller@att.net.