Elmore Leonard

the long version

"The popular novelist Elmore Leonard, who was born in New Orleans in 1923 and grew up in Detroit, has been publishing his stories for nearly 50 years.". "While Leonard is chiefly a popular writer whose admitted goal is to entertain, his work displays a depth and a style that merits genuine literary recognition. Like Hemingway, whom he studied in the fifties and invariably credits as an influence, Leonard writes about alienated, divorced, rootless men, sometimes lapsed in their religions, but still morally responsible, courageous, and as true to themselves as they are to their friends.". "In this comprehensive analysis of Leonard's work, James Devlin discusses all 35 novels to date, with emphasis on the crime novels, from The Big Bounce (1961) to Be Cool (1999)."--BOOK JACKET.