Elmore Leonard Books

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Author Elmore Leonard was born October 11, 1925 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His family moved around due to the fact that his father worked for General Motors as a site locator. They would later settle in 1934 in Detroit, Michigan. When he entered the University of Detroit in 1946, he began to take writing more seriously; he started sending off short stories he had written off to magazines and entering them into short story contests. Leonard’s first big break was when “Trail of the Apaches”, which is a story he had written was published in Argosy. Leonard was married three times, divorced twice, and had five children (all with his first wife). He had a stroke on July 29, 2013, for a time he was recovering but later died on August 20, 2013.

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Leonard is mostly known for writing novels and short stories, but he also wrote some screenplays. The most notable was “Joe Kidd” (which starred Clint Eastwood), he also wrote the screenplays for some of the adaptations of his own work. He wrote a sequel to “High Noon” in 1980. The novels and stories he wrote were both from the western genre and also mysteries, crime fiction, and thrillers. He started out writing westerns, in the fifties and sixties. From the seventies on, he worked on crime and thriller stories.

ELMORE LEONARD AWARDS

Leonard was awarded a Grand Master for Lifetime Achievement from Mystery Writers of America. He also won an Edgar for his 1984 novel called “La Brava”.

ELMORE LEONARD BOOKS INTO MOVIES/TV

A lot of Leonard’s work has been adapted for the screen in some way. His western story “Three-Ten to Yuma” has been adapted twice, once in 1957 and again in 2007. “Get Shorty” was made into a movie in 1995 that starred John Travolta, Danny DeVito, and Rene Russo. “Killshot” was made into a movie that starred Diane Lane and Mickey Rourke. The television series “Justified” is based off stories (“Pronto”, “Riding the Rap”, and “Fire in the Hole”) that feature a popular character of Leonard’s named Raylan Givens. “Out of Sight” was made into a novel. As was “Rum Punch”, that was titled “Jackie Brown” and was made by Quentin Tarrantino. When Leonard read the screenplay for “Jackie Brown”, he said that it was the best he had ever read.

BEST ELMORE LEONARD BOOKS

For those readers looking to get into novels by Elmore Leonard, this section will help with that. It will go over the novels “Get Shorty” and “Be Cool”.

Get Shorty: This is the first novel in the “Chili Palmer” series and was released in the year 1990. Chili Palmer (a loan shark that has mob connections) is tired of the grind in Miami, and his friends have been dying there. He has to pursue a client that is not paying up and chases him out to Hollywood. Chili thinks that this might be a place that would be good to stay. It has dream makers, liars, hucksters, and liars; not to mention would be starlets who are beautiful (and do not wear much clothing). It seems to be a great place for someone who is an enterprising criminal who has cinematic tastes. He has the perfect idea for something that would make a killer movie. It may get him killed just getting the thing made, though.

Be Cool: This is the second novel in the “Chili Palmer” series and was released in the year 1999. The movie that Chili made after “Get Leo” bombed. This does not bode well in a town that considers you only as hot as the last film you made. He is outside again and explores an idea for the next film. He has lunch with an old associate from his time in New York, that is now an executive for a record label. The lunch starts with iced tea and ends with a mob hit. Chili finds that he needs help from Detective Darryl Holmes (one of LAPD’s finest cops); he might also be a target of Russian gangsters. There is a hit man on his trail, while he tries to put together film number three. It is going to be about Linda Moon, a real singer that has big dreams. Bigger than just being with Chicks International and covering the music of the Spice Girls. She wants away from the pimp, Raji, that manages her. The plot will be based off what happens after Chili gets her career out of Raji’s hands. He finds success in the music business, faking it with aplomb that has become his trademark. He advances his friends and manipulates his enemies.

When Does The Next Elmore Leonard book come out?

Elmore Leonard doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Picket Line and was released on September, 30th 2025. It is the newest book in the Is It Just Me? Series.

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