Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Peter Leonard: ‘Hard time makes the boy the man’
By Peter Leonard, Special to CNN
I was in a year-abroad program in 1973, one of 240 American students attending Loyola University Rome Center. The school year was winding down. I went out to dinner with a group of friends in Trastevere. After several courses and many bottles of wine, we went to a bar and listened to a singer do jazz standards.
About 11:30, Steve Pappas, a friend from Vallejo, California, and I decided to peel off from the group and take a cab across town to Harry’s Bar, an old Hemingway haunt on Via Veneto. (We’d sit outside, drink whiskey and talk to the prostitutes, beautiful women who walked down from the park, Villa Borghese, looking for a rich guy staying at one of the expensive hotels.)
We left the bar, and I saw a taxi on the other side of the piazza under a full moon. Walked to it, and I got in back and closed my eyes, feeling the effects of many drinks. I heard the front door open and close, looked and saw Pappas grinning in the driver’s seat. “We’re going to Harry’s.”
I thought he was kidding. But then I heard the engine start, saw him slip the shifter in gear, and we did a couple doughnuts in the middle of the piazza, tires squealing, and pulled out, turning right onto a street heading for the Tiber River.
I said, “Are you out of your mind?”
permalinkThursday, May 10, 2012
Down in ol’ Kentucky
Sunday Tribune (South Africa)
BYLINE: Tim Goodman
Elmore Leonard doesn’t endorse the FX series Justified (Tuesdays on |M-Net Series at 8.30pm) because it’s based on one of his characters.
He’s had a long while to think about how many times Hollywood has messed up his books. Nope, he loves Justified because it gets him. And it gets him right.
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Tuesday, May 08, 2012
UTA Signs Elmore Leonard
By Mike Fleming
Deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: United Talent Agency has signed prolific crime writer Elmore Leonard, who has retained a major Hollywood agency for the first time in his 60 year career. UTA will rep Leonard in film, TV, digital and allied rights. Leonard, who continues with literary agent Andrew Wylie, is eager to see more of his books adapted for the screen. He has written 45 Westerns and crime novels, and 40 short stories.
Friday, April 20, 2012
The Big Bounce, Stick, City Primeval and Cuba Libre Now in Trade Paperback
Buy them here at the Elmore Leonard Bookstore
permalinkMonday, April 09, 2012
Double- and triple-crosses collide in ‘Justified’ finale
By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY
If you want job security, don’t play a bad guy on Justified.
Anyone who watches this terrific series knows that doesn’t count as a spoiler, because it isn’t telling you anything you’re not already anticipating going into Tuesday’s nail-biter of a season finale (* * * * out of four, FX, 10 ET/PT).
You must know that everyone isn’t going to make it through the season, because everyone never has. What you don’t know is which one of the series’ multiple, colorful and seemingly indispensable villains is about to be dispensed with — and in some cases, what you’re probably not prepared for is how.
permalinkThursday, April 05, 2012
The Riches of White Trash
The Millions
By BILL MORRIS
Most of Elmore Leonard’s crime novels take place in cities: Detroit, New Orleans, Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles. But his Detroit novels, in particular, make room for characters who’ve migrated from the country, in this case the white Southerners who’ve traveled the “Hillbilly Highway” (originally U.S. 23, now I-75), which runs from Appalachia right up to the all-devouring mouth of Henry Ford’s River Rouge plant and other Detroit infernos. Leonard’s white Southerner outlaws have names like Clement Mansell and Ernest “Stick” Stickley, Jr. (His black Southerner outlaws have names like Virgil Royal and Sportree and Marlys.)
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Justified Season Finale
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Monday, April 02, 2012
Grit on wry: A dinner with Elmore and Peter Leonard By Ann O’Neill, CNN
CNN
Ann O’Neill
Birmingham, Michigan (CNN)—People who write about crime for a living have a curious appetite when it comes to dinner conversation. As they pass the potatoes, they dwell on the unsavory details of hookers and pimps, junkies and bookies, crime scenes and corpses.
An invitation to dine with novelists Elmore and Peter Leonard promised healthy servings of grit on wry—and a rare opportunity to learn how these masters of crime fiction spin it into gold. Oh, the stories they told.
Ben Cavell talks about Episode 12 of Season 3 of Justified.
Ben Cavell, the writer of “Measures”, to discuss this week’s episode and sort through all the high-stakes action.
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Thursday, March 29, 2012
Megan Abbott Interviews Elmore in The Los Angeles Times Magazine
Los Angeles Time Magazine
Megan Abbott
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Sunday, March 25, 2012
Justified finally debuts in Canada: Review
The Toronto Star
Don’t let the cowboy hat and boots fool you — Justified is not a western. Well, maybe a little bit.
But the one thing it definitely isn’t is another one of those ubiquitous cookie-cutter crime procedurals.
What it is, more than anything else, is pure, unadulterated Elmore Leonard, the crime writer whose character the show is based on. And that is all you need to know.
As was the case until recently with most FX-originated shows, Justified has taken its time crossing the border, available in Canada only to subscribers to Super Channel and Netflix.
But now it’s here, a season late, but available to all, debuting last night at 10 on Showcase.
permalinkTuesday, March 20, 2012
This is a question for super Elmore Leonard/Justified Fans.
In addition to Fire in the Hole and Raylan, what other Elmore Leonard novel or story ideas are “borrowed” for use in Justified? Hint: There’s one each in #309 and #310.
http://www.facebook.com/elmoreleonard
permalinkSunday, March 18, 2012
Elmore Leonard Classic 3-Book Collection: Get Shorty, Tishomingo Blues, Killshot on Kindle
African American History Lesson on Justified
Mystery Scene
by Oline Cogdill
And in this third season, Justified gives us a history lesson in the form of Ellstin Limehouse (Mykelti Williamson) who rules the African-American enclave of Nobles Holler.
Nobles Holler is based on Kentucky’s Coe Ridge Colony, which was a small area settled and maintained by emancipated slaves following the Civil War. Coe Ridge existed for nearly 100 years, in constant battle to defend itself against those who wanted to destroy it. According to the legends, Coe Ridge residents would use whatever was necessary to perserve its people and culture.
It also became a refuge for white women fleeing from abusive homes from all over the state. Even the most abusive, nastiest husbands weren’t stupid enough to try to venture into Coe Ridge to find their wives.
permalinkMonday, March 12, 2012
Facebook Poll: Who’s Your Favorite Season 3 Bad Guy?
Robert Quarles (Neal McDonough) or Ellston Limehouse (Mykelti Williamson)?
Vote here.
permalinkTuesday, March 06, 2012
FX Picks up Justified for Season 4!
Raylan Givens will fight for justice for another year. FX has renewed “Justified” for a fourth season of 13 episodes.
“‘Justified’ is one of television’s best series and this season has reinforced that excellence,” Nick Grad, executive vice president of original programming at FX, said in a statement. “Graham Yost and his writing team continue to deliver compelling material and richly drawn characters brought to life by the brilliance of Timothy Olyphant and our terrific ensemble cast ... We look forward to many more seasons to come.”
permalinkJustified Episode #308
Monday, February 27, 2012
Creative Minds: ‘Justified’ showrunner Graham Yost
Los Angeles Times
Yvonne Villarreal
“Justified” executive producer Graham Yost talks about his Nickelodeon days, adapting Elmore Leonard for TV and the fear of repetition.
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Friday, February 24, 2012
Another Great Cover from Italy
Gibuti (Djibouti)
Monday, February 20, 2012
Behind the Scenes of Justified
Friday, February 17, 2012
Facebook Poll: Favorite Elmore Leonard Novel
Go to Elmore’s Facebook page and vote for your favorite Elmore Leonard novel. The ten choices—the maximum number in a Facebook poll—are the top ten chosen in a preliminary poll I ran a week ago.
permalinkThursday, February 16, 2012
Jennifer Aniston and Dennis Quaid are Unhappily Married in Elmore Leonard Adaptation ‘Switch’
Hollywood.com
Actors have always jumped at the chance to take part in a big-screen adaptation of an Elmore Leonard story, and the beloved novelists latest film project is starting to attract major talent.
Deadline reports that Jennifer Aniston - fresh off her most successful year in cinema in ages thanks to Just Go With It and Horrible Bosses - is in talks to join Switch, a film project first reported to be a prequel of sorts to Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown. In truth, it’s not a prequel, but rather a parallel tale that is intersected by characters who appeared in the 1997 neo-noir. She’d play a woman who’s kidnapped by two ex-cons in an attempt to extort money from her seedy real estate developer husband, a role being circled by Dennis Quaid. The twist? When the husband refuses to pay, the angry wife teams with the two ex-cons to swindle all of his money. Already cast are Oscar nominee John Hawkes, Mos Def and Ty Burrell. Daniel Schechter will write and direct.
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We’re back!
Boy, was that traumatic.
permalinkSaturday, February 11, 2012
Cowboy cool Elmore Leonard tells how ‘Justified’ got it right, bringing Raylan Givens to the screen
New York Post
By LARRY GETLEN
Elmore Leonard is a dean of American crime fiction, a master of dialogue, and, with films emerging from novels including “52 Pick-Up” “Get Shorty,” and “Out of Sight,” a master as well at writing novels that scream for screen adaptations. Before Leonard wrote crime fiction, he wrote western novels such as “Valdez Is Coming” and “Hombre,” which were also made into films that starred, respectively, Burt Lancaster and Paul Newman.
Leonard on film
Most people agree that Elmore Leonard’s books are sensational and many of them, including “Raylan,” have been best sellers. The 1990s were very good to him, as several of his novels were made into big Hollywood movies. But which were the best?
permalinkFriday, February 10, 2012
Elmore Leonard (still) rules
The Globe and Mail
REVIEWED BY LARRY ORENSTEIN
The Wall Street Journal reporter took her time before she dropped the obvious question on Elmore Leonard: You’re 86 and still writing every day. Why?
“I might as well do it. I can’t just sit here and look out the window.”
Ah yes, welcome to the sound and rhythm of the Leonard narrative, not to mention his latest novel, Raylan. (We just violated Leonard’s second rule of writing, by the way: Avoid prologues. So let’s get to it.)
permalinkTuesday, February 07, 2012
“Djibouti is a return to form from the old master”
Irish Times
Declan Burke
Elmore Leonard’s 44th novel, Djibouti (£7.99, Phoenix), has for its backdrop the Horn of Africa. An American film-maker, Dara Barr, sets out to make a documentary about the pirates who prey on commercial shipping off the coast of Somalia. She quickly encounters a host of idiosyncratic characters: Billy Wynn, an eccentric Texas billionaire who appears to be operating as a one-man anti-terrorist secret service; the pirate leader Idris Mohammed and his Oxford-educated weapons dealer friend, Sheikh Ari “Harry” Bakar; and James Russell, an American-born al-Qaeda operative with designs on blowing up an oil tanker captured by the pirates.
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Friday, February 03, 2012
Squad 7 - Impressions of Murder
The Detroit News
By Elmore Leonard
In 1978, Detroit News editors commissioned a story by Elmore Leonard for the Sunday Magazine about Detroit Homicide’s felony murder team, Squad 7. News reporter Norman Sinclair introduced Leonard to his Detroit Homicide police sources, and the author ended up spending many weeks following the squad on calls and at police headquarters.
Read, “Impressions of Murder”.
Elmore Leonard, 86, still on top with new novel, hit TV series
The Detroit News
By Susan Whitall
Peter Leonard knows the exact moment that he wanted his father Elmore Leonard’s job. It was after a long, tense day at the ad agency, dressed in a suit, making pitches to a room of bored suits. Peter had gone over to his father’s house to find the eminent crime writer lounging around dressed in a black Nine Inch Nails T-shirt, jeans and sandals. “I said, I have to have a job like this.”
And so a second generation of Leonards went into mystery/crime writing.
The elder Leonard is, of course, the acknowledged master of the genre after 44 novels (“Swag,” “Get Shorty,” “Killshot,” “LaBrava”), countless screenplays, novellas and short stories in a writing career that spans 60 years. His finely honed sentences can sound as flinty/poetic as Hemingway or as hard-boiled as Raymond Chandler. His ear for the way people talk — or should — is peerless.
Peter Leonard was talking about his career epiphany in a meeting room in the basement of the Baldwin Library in Birmingham, appearing with his father at a standing-room-only dual book signing Jan. 19. (Peter’s latest: “Voices of the Dead.”)
It was a rare appearance, one of only three the elder Leonard did to celebrate the release of his latest novel, his 45th, “Raylan: A Novel” (William Morrow, $26.99). The book makes a splashy debut Sunday at No. 7 on the New York Times best-seller list.
permalinkThursday, February 02, 2012
Back on the Case: Elmore Leonard Returns With ‘Raylan’
The New York Times Book Review
By OLEN STEINHAUER
Jazzy prose that occasionally lets go of “proper usage” is Leonard’s trademark. He’s a stylist of forward motion, placing narrative acceleration above inconveniences like pronouns and helping verbs. While this creates in most readers a heightened sense of excitement, newcomers may find the transition from complete sentences daunting; it may take a little time to accept Leonard’s prose before you allow it to do its work on you. I’ll admit to having to make such an adjustment when beginning “Raylan.” At the same time, I’m also a novelist who lives in fear of my copy editor; being such a coward, I can’t help respecting Leonard’s grammatical bravery.
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Elmore and Peter Leonard Chicago Area Appearances
ELMORE and PETER LEONARD (two events)
Thursday, February 2nd
6:30 pm at Michigan Shores Club
Friday, February 3rd
8:30 am at The Book Stall (Breakfast)
Don’t miss two opportunities to meet Elmore Leonard and his son Peter Leonard, both out with brand new books. Elmore, A Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, will talk about Raylan, his fast-paced, darkly humorous third crime novel starting straight shooting, supercool U.S. marshal Raylan Givens. Peter’s new book is Voices of the Dead, the story of a Detroit Holocaust survivor whose daughter is killed in Washington DC by a drunk driver - a German diplomat who is granted immunity and released.
permalinkWednesday, February 01, 2012
John Hawkes to star in ‘Jackie Brown’ prequel
Variety
Indie ‘Switch’ based on Elmore Leonard book
By JEFF SNEIDER
Fresh off his critically acclaimed turn in Sundance’s audience award winner “The Surrogate,” John Hawkes has committed to star opposite Yasiin Bey in the Elmore Leonard adaptation “Switch,” from writer-director Dan Schechter (“Supporting Characters”).
The crime drama will serve as a prequel to Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown,” with Hawkes and Bey playing younger versions of Robert De Niro and Samuel L. Jackson’s respective characters Louis Gara and Ordell Robbie, who appear in Leonard’s novel “Rum Punch.”
Monday, January 30, 2012
VIDEO - Elmore and Mike Lupica at Barnes and Noble, E. 86th St. NYC
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Elmore Leonard: the great American novelist
Philip Hensher
The Guardian
Leonard is regarded as the greatest American crime writer, surpassing even Raymond Chandler. But it is time to drop the qualification of genre.
permalinkThursday, January 26, 2012
Raylan Debuts at Number 7 on New York Times Bestseller List for February 5!
Congratulations, Elmore. Onward and Upward!
permalinkTuesday, January 24, 2012
Elmore in New York
January 24
The Center for Crime Fiction. Conversation with Jonathan Santlofer, followed by book signing.
January 25
Imus in the Morning
The Leonard Lopate Show
Barnes and Noble, E. 86th St. Conversation with Mike Lupica, followed by book signing.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Crime Fiction Academy Master Class: Elmore Leonard Tuesday, January 24, 7pm
In the first event for the new Crime Fiction Academy, Elmore gives his insights into the art of crime fiction. Academy Director (and award-winning crime writer) Jonathan Santlofer will interview Leonard about his amazing career, his thoughts on the craft of writing, and his new book, Raylan. Leonard fans will know that U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens is the wonderfully laid-back hero of Pronto and Riding the Rap, and is played by Timothy Olyphant on the FX series.
Tickets available here.
permalinkVideo - Elmore and Peter Leonard at the Baldwin Public Library 1/19/12
Click here.
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San Francisco Chronicle Review of Raylan
San Francisco Chronicle
Alan Cheuse
I haven’t seen “Justified” on FX, but you don’t have to have seen it either to enjoy the low-key dramatic splendors of Elmore Leonard’s new novel, “Raylan.”
It focuses on the character of U.S. Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens (who appeared in two previous Leonard novels on which that television series is based). In fact, you don’t have to watch any TV at all. “Raylan” is really a vivid movie-like experience. The book turns into a handheld device that delivers word-filled pages, speeding the story along in your mind without any help from director, actors, cameramen, extras, set decorators and costumers. Nobody but you and the words on the page, and you’re off and running. Or dreaming, as John Gardner used to put it, while awake.
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
HarperCollins Creates Cross Promotional App for Raylan and Justified.
The HarperCollins copy: “With over 40 books under his belt, revered New York Times bestselling author Elmore Leonard has been called “America’s greatest crime writer” by Newsweek. And now his entire library, and much more, are available for your mobile device in celebration of his new novel, Raylan, available now. In Fire in the Hole, Elmore introduced US Marshal Raylan Givens, now the inspiration for the hit FX show Justified. Download now for a look inside his amazing collection, videos of Elmore, as well as insider information into the new season of Justified. Also connect with Elmore on Facebook and Twitter!”
Download The Elmore Leonard App
permalinkNPR Talk of the Nation: ‘Justified’ Producer Shares Crime Writing Secrets
NPR
Elmore Leonard has had the kind of writing career many aspiring writers dream of. Over the course of six decades, he’s written scores of successful crime novels, short stories and scripts for screens big and small.
Justified, the acclaimed TV series on FX, is based on one of Leonard’s short stories, “Fire in the Hole.” The show has garnered awards for its gritty yet likeable characters.
Leonard, 86, is the show’s executive producer. He talks with NPR’s John Donvan about how he crafts his characters for the page and screen
permalinkCBC Radio Interview
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Friday, January 20, 2012
Raylan Features, Reviews, Audio, Video
Click here for the latest press on Raylan.
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
The Best Show You’re Not Watching
Men’s Health
by J. Rentilly January 16, 2012, 12:00 pm EST
Elmore Leonard—still satisfied, working, and thinking up badass characters at the age of 86.
In an hour-long conversation 2 years ago, Elmore Leonard used the word “satisfied” 17 times to describe his attitude toward life. Anyone who has thrilled to Leonard’s brilliant capers, crime cocktails, and Western throw downs—Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Freaky Deaky, and the newly published Raylan—knows the 86-year-old author uses language sparingly, leaving out the parts readers skip, he likes to say.
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Raylan Audio Widget
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Big Day Today! New Novel Raylan Goes on Sale, Justified Season 3 Begins
Peter Leonard’s New Book, Voices of the Dead Comes Out Today
The year is 1971. The place is Detroit. Harry Levin, a scrap metal dealer and Holocaust survivor, has just learned that his daughter was killed in a car accident. Traveling to Washington, DC to claim the body, he learns that the accident was caused by a German diplomat who was driving drunk. This is only the beginning of the horror for Harry, though, as he discovers that the diplomat will never face charges – he has already been released and granted immunity. Enraged and aggrieved, Harry discovers the identity of his daughter’s killer, follows him to Munich, and hunts him down. What Harry finds out about the diplomat and his plans will explode his life and the lives of everyone around him.
Brimming with action and dark humor, Voices of the Dead, firmly positions Peter Leonard as a writer ever suspense fan needs to read.
Early review in the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/16/thrillers-reviews-roundups
Leonard’s previous novels have been jaunty crime capers similar to those of his father, Elmore. This one, set in 1971 and the first of a two-parter, has the same energy and precision but is much darker thematically, more painful and considered. On the surface it’s a cat-and-mouse thriller: scrap-metal dealer Harry Levin is determined to track down the German diplomat who killed his daughter when driving drunk. The police tell him the man has been afforded immunity and won’t face charges, so Harry travels back to Munich, where he was born, to dispense vigilante justice ... Leonard’s handling of Harry’s wartime internment in Dachau proves he’s no one-trick pony. There are thrills here but also a desperate pathos. If you haven’t read Leonard before - and you must - this is a great place to start.’
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