Bøger af Elmore Leonard

The Library of America inaugurates its Elmore Leonard edition with four funny, street-smart early masterpieces, gathered in one volume for the first time: Blending gritty toughness and unpredictable violence with wild humor and an uncanny ear for the rhythms of ordinary speech, Elmore Leonard (1925-2013) was the most widely and enthusiastically admired crime novelist of his time. His genius for scene and dialogue led Time magazine to describe him as "a Dickens of Detroit," and Newsweek called him "the best American writer of crime alive, possibly the best we've ever had." Now The Library of America inaugurates a three-volume edition of Leonard's greatest work, prepared in consultation with the author shortly before his death and edited by his long-time researcher Gregg Sutter. The four novels collected in this first volume re-invented the American crime novel and cemented Leonard's reputation. All are set in his hometown Detroit, a hard-working "shot and a beer" kind of place whose lawless underside becomes a stage for an unforgettable cast of rogues, con artists, and psychopaths. Fifty-Two Pickup (1974), fast and sharply written, is an insidiously brutal book about an adulterous businessman who runs afoul of a crew of murderous blackmailers. Swag (1976) finds Leonard moving for the first time into the more comic mode that would become his signature, as he charts the small-time criminal careers of an amiable ex-con and an ambitious car salesman who share a bachelor pad and pursue their hedonistic dream of the good life through a string of armed robberies. Unknown Man No. 23 (1977) spins a complex web of crisscrossing rip-offs and con games, with process server Jack Ryan, a typically laid-back Leonard protagonist, caught in the middle. In The Switch (1978), one of Leonard's funniest books, Mickey Dawson, a discontented housewife held for ransom, manages to turn the tables on her kidnappers while exacting overdue revenge on her scheming husband. This volume also contains a newly researched chronology of Elmore Leonard's life, drawing on materials in his personal archive, and detailed annotations, which include as a special bonus a scene from the typescript for Swag that did not appear in the published book.LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

Former Secret Service agent Joe LaBrava gets mixed up in a South Miami Beach scam involving a redneck former cop, a Cuban hitman who moonlights as a go-go dancer, and a crazy one-time movie queen whose world is part make-believe, part deadly danger.

The Library of America presents the definitive edition of an American master of crime fiction: twelve modern classics in a deluxe three-volume collector's boxed set. This is Elmore Leonard at his unbeatable best.Contains:Four Novels of the 1970s (Library of America volume #255) Fifty-Two PickupSwagUnknown Man No. 89The SwitchFour Novels of the 1980s (Library of America volume #267)City PrimevalLaBravaGlitzFreaky DeakyFour Later Novels (Library of America volume #280)Get ShortyRum PunchOut of SightTishomingo BluesLIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

Prohibition is a big headache for some . . . and a big payday for others, the fearless entrepreneurs with little respect for the law of the land. With $125,000 worth of Kentucky's finest homemade whiskey in his possession, big, hell-raising Son Martin counts himself among the latter. Son knows having this much illegal hooch makes him a very tasty target, but nobody's going to steal it from him. Ware may be coming to his backyard, but Son's not worried. Because when it comes to fighting, shooting, and keeping one step ahead of the Big Boys, he's more than good—he's bad . . . and dangerous . . . and deadly.

A quiet haunted man, Paul Cable walked away from a lost cause hoping to pick up where he left off. But things have changed in Arizona since he first rode out to go fight for the Confederacy. Two brothers?Union men?have claimed his spread and they're not about to give it back, leaving Cable and his family no place to settle in peace. It seems this war is not yet over for Paul Cable. But no one's going to take away his land and his future?not with their laws, their lies, or their guns.

Touch is sensational suspense from the master of crime fiction, New York Times bestselling author Elmore Leonard.A Michigan woman was blind and now she can see, after being touched by a young man who calls himself Juvenal. Maybe it was just coincidence, but Bill Hillwho used to run the spectacular Uni-Faith Ministry in Dalton, Georgia, and now sells RVscan see dollar signs when he looks at this kid with the magic touch.The trouble is that others see them also, including a wacko fundamentalist fascist with his own private army of the faithful and an assortment of media leeches. But everyone whos looking to put the touch on the healer is in for a big surprisebecause Juvenals got a trick or two up his sleeve that nobody sees coming.

A highly entertaining collection of never-before-seen stories and several previously published pieces from the bestselling master of crime fiction Elmore LeonardMarked by his unmistakable humor and grit, the stories in this collection—produced early in his career, when he was making his name particularly with westerns—reveal a writer in transition. In these tales Leonard explores new voices and locations, from the bars of small border towns in New Mexico to the seedy clubs of Detroit. Devoted Leonard aficionados and fans new to his fiction will marvel at these early works that reveal a developing artist on the cusp of greatness.

New York Times Bestselling Author Elmore Leonard brings his trademark wit and inimitable style to this twisting, gripping-and sometimes playful-tale of modern-day piracy Dara Barr, documentary filmmaker, is at the top of her game. She's covered Bosnian women, Neo-Nazis, and post-Katrina New Orleans (for which she won an Oscar), but now she's looking for an even bigger challenge. So she and her right-hand-man-a six-foot-six, 72-year-old, African-American man named Xavier-head to Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, to tackle modern-day pirates. Once they start filming, though, they find a whole lot more than they bargained for. They quickly learn that almost nobody in Djibouti is what he seems. A whole mob of colorful characters patrols the surrounding seas, including a pirate commander who's more like Robin Hood than Captain Hook; a cultured diplomat with dubious connections; a rich playboy who knows more than he lets on; and an American-born terrorist with lofty ambitions. But then there's the recently hijacked LNG (liquid natural gas) tanker: just the thing an aspiring terrorist is looking for to blow up something big. What Dara and Xavier don't know, though, is who's going to be the one to get the prize and what they're going to do for it.

Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara hit it off in prison, where they were both doing time for grand theft auto. Now that they're out, they're joining forces for one big score. The plan is to kidnap the wife of a wealthy Detroit developer and hold her for ransom. Looks good until they learn the lowlife husband doesn't want his wife back. So it's time for Plan B and the opportunity to make a real killing—with the unlikely help of a beautiful, ticked-off housewife who's hungry for a large helping of sweet revenge.

Elmore Leonard can write circles around almost anybody active in the crime novel today.New York Times Book ReviewWith more than forty novels to his credit and still going strong, the legendary Elmore Leonard has well earned the title, Americas greatest crime writer (Newsweek). And U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Pronto, Riding the Rap, Fire in the Hole) is one of Leonards most popular creations, thanks in part to the phenomenal success of the hit TV series Justified. Leonards Raylan shines a spotlight once again on the dedicated, if somewhat trigger-happy lawman, this time in his familiar but not particularly cozy milieu of Harlan County, Kentucky, where the drug dealing Crowe brothers are branching out into the human body parts business. Suspenseful, darkly wry and riveting, and crackling with Leonards trademark electric dialogue, Raylan is prime Grand Master Leonard as you have always loved him and always will.

Ordell “Whitebread” Robbie makes a fine living selling illegal high-powered weaponry to the wrong people. Jackie Burke couriers Ordell’s profits from Freeport to Miami. But the feds are on to Jackie—and now the aging but still hot flight attendant will have to do prison time or play ball, which makes her a prime “loose end” that Ordell needs to tie up permanently. Jackie, however, has other options. And with the help of Max Cherry—an honest but disgruntled bail bondsman looking to get out—she could even end up with a serious nest egg in the process.

Elmore Leonard, New York Times bestselling author and "the hippest, funniest national treasure in sight" (Washington Post), brings his trademark wit and inimitable style to this twisting, gripping—and sometimes playful—tale of modern-day piracyDara Barr, documentary filmmaker, is at the top of her game. She's covered the rape of Bosnian women, neo-Nazi white supremacists, and post-Katrina New Orleans, and has won awards for all three. Now, looking for a bigger challenge, Dara and her right-hand-man, Xavier LeBo, a six-foot-six, seventy-two-year-old African American seafarer, head to Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, to film modern-day pirates hijacking merchant ships.They learn soon enough that almost no one in the Middle East is who he seems to be. The most successful pirate, driving his Mercedes around Djibouti, appears to be a good guy, but his pal, a cultured Saudi diplomat, has dubious connections. Billy Wynn, a Texas billionaire, plays mysterious roles as the mood strikes him. He's promised his girlfriend, Helene, a nifty fashion model, that he'll marry her if she doesn't become seasick or bored while circling the world on his yacht. And there's Jama Raisuli, a black al Qaeda terrorist from Miami, who's vowed to blow up something big.What Dara and Xavier have to decide, besides the best way to stay alive: Should they shoot the action as a documentary or turn it into a Hollywood feature film?

A character so outrageous he could only have come from the ingenious imagination of Elmore Leonard, lewd, lecherous, law-bending Florida jurist Judge Robert "Maximum Bob" Gibbs has been judged guilty by a grudge-bearing malefactor and sentenced to death--by alligator, if necessary. Maximum Bob is a delightfully dark classic thriller from "the greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever" (New York Times Book Review), and any reader who loved getting gleefully lost in criminal mayhem of Get Shorty, Rum Punch, Out of Sight, The Hot Kid, or any number of the inimitable Leonard's numerous crime fiction masterworks will get maximum enjoyment out of this one.

"An excellent read....Concrete evidence of a master crime writer still at the top of his game."--Russel D. McLean, author of The Good Son"The reigning King Daddy of crime writers" (Seattle Times), Elmore Leonard first introduced quick-triggered legendary lawman Carl Webster in the New York Times bestseller, The Hot Kid, and brought him back for an encore Up in Honey's Room. In Comfort to the Enemy and Other Carl Webster Stories, the loose cannon U.S. marshal struts his stuff once more in three electrifying new tales. Comfort to the Enemy is more indisputable proof that Elmore Leonard is indeed, as Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Shutter Island) puts it, "The greatest crime writer who ever lived."

"Road Dogs is terrific, and Elmore Leonard is in a class of one."--Dennis Lehane, author of Shutter Island and Mystic River "You know from the first sentence that you're in the hands of the original Daddy Cool....This one'll kill you."--Stephen King Elmore Leonard is eternal. In Road Dogs, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award winner and "America's greatest crime master" (Newsweek) brings back three of his favorite characters--Jack Foley from Out of Sight, Cundo Rey from La Brava, and Dawn Navarro from Riding the Rap--for a twisting, explosive, always surprising masterwork of crime fiction the San Francisco Chronicle calls, "a sly, violent, funny and superbly written story of friendship, greed, and betrayal."

Road Dogs is terrific, and Elmore Leonard is in a class of one.Dennis Lehane, author of Shutter Island and Mystic RiverYou know from the first sentence that youre in the hands of the original Daddy Cool....This onell kill you.Stephen KingElmore Leonard is eternal. In Road Dogs, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award winner and Americas greatest crime master (Newsweek) brings back three of his favorite charactersJack Foley from Out of Sight, Cundo Rey from La Brava, and Dawn Navarro from Riding the Rapfor a twisting, explosive, always surprising masterwork of crime fiction the San Francisco Chronicle calls, a sly, violent, funny and superbly written story of friendship, greed, and betrayal.

The odd thing about Walter Schoen, German born but now running a butcher shop in Detroit, he's a dead ringer for Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and the Gestapo. They even share the same birthday.Honey Deal, Walter's American wife, doesn't know that Walter is a member of a spy ring that sends U.S. war production data to Germany and gives shelter to escaped German prisoners of war. But she's tired of telling him jokes he doesn't understandit's time to get a divorce.Along comes Carl Webster, the hot kid of the Marshals Service. He's looking for Jurgen Schrenk, a former Afrika Korps officer who escaped from a POW camp in Oklahoma. Carl's pretty sure Walter's involved with keeping Schrenk hidden, so Carl gets to know Honey, hoping she'll take him to Walter. Carl then meets Vera Mezwa, the nifty Ukrainian head of the spy ring who's better looking than Mata Hari, and her tricky lover Bohdan with the Buster Brown haircut and a sly way of killing. Honey's a free spirit; she likes the hot kid marshal and doesn't much care that he's married. But all Carl wants is to get Jurgen Schrenk without getting shot. And then there's Ottothe Waffen-SS major who runs away with a nice Jewish girl. It's Elmore Leonard's worldgritty, funny, and full of surprises.

"These are the rules I've picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I'm writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what's taking place in the story."?Elmore LeonardFor aspiring writers and lovers of the written word, this concise guide breaks down the writing process with simplicity and clarity. From adjectives and exclamation points to dialect and hoopetedoodle, Elmore Leonard explains what to avoid, what to aspire to, and what to do when it sounds like "writing" (rewrite).Beautifully designed, filled with free-flowing, elegant illustrations and specially priced, Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing is the perfect writer's?and reader's?gift.

German-born Walter Schoen, now living in Detroit, is a dead ringer for Heinrich Himmler. Walter's American wife, Honey Deal, doesn't know he's a German spy, but she's tired of telling him jokes he doesn't understand?it's time for a divorce. Along comes Carl Webster, the hot kid of the Marshals Service. He's looking for a German officer who escaped from a POW camp in Oklahoma. Carl's pretty sure Walter's involved, so Carl gets to know Honey, hoping she'll take him to Walter. Honey likes Carl and doesn't much care that he's married. But all Carl wants is to get his man without getting shot. It's Elmore Leonard's world?gritty, funny, and full of surprises.

Before he brilliantly traversed the gritty landscapes of underworld Detroit and Miami, 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 scalpel-sharp dialogue.No author has ever written more evocatively of the dusty, gutsy heyday of the American West than Elmore Leonard. This complete collection of his thirty-one Western tales will thrill lovers of the genre, his die-hard fans, and everyone in between. From his very first story ever published—"The Trail of the Apache"—through five decades of classic Western tales, The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard demonstrates the superb talent for language and gripping narrative that has made Leonard one of the most acclaimed and influential writers of our time.

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 tales, the New York Times-bestselling Grand Master re-creates a world of violence, deception, vengeance, and strange beauty with the same peerless storytelling power that distinguishes his acclaimed suspense fiction.

Trust was rare and precious in the wide-open towns that sprung up like weeds on America's frontier?with hustlers and hucksters arriving in droves by horse, coach, wagon, and rail, and gunmen working both sides of the law, all too eager to end a man's life with a well-placed bullet. The New York Times-bestselling Grand Master of suspense deftly displays the other side of his genius, with seven classic western tales of destiny and fatal decision . . . and trust as essential to survival as it is hard-earned.

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 scalpel-sharp dialogue.For every story of inspiring moral courage in America's untamed West, there's one of greed and duplicity, of corrupted souls willingly sacrificed to a merciless deity of ill-gotten gold. The New York Times-bestselling Grand Master brings us seven unforgettable western tales of noble stands and cowardly compromises—and battles of will more devastating than a blazing gunfight.

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 scalpel-sharp dialogue.There is a moment when obsession, rage, and destiny come together at the end of a shotgun barrel?when wrongs, actual or perceived, are addressed with violence, and the awesome power of life or death rests in a trigger finger. In seven magnificent stories of sins, crimes, conscience, and savage retribution, the New York Times-bestselling master carries us back to an untamed time and place where a simple transgression most often proved fatal . . . and the only true justice lived in the hands of the gunman.

Loan shark Chili Palmer didn't say anything when Ray Bones stole his leather jacket from Vesuvio's in Miami. He just went to Ray's house, broke his nose, took the jacket, and left. Twelve years later, on account of his boss getting whacked, Chili finds himself working for Bones and ordered to collect on a bad debt from Leo Devoe, a guy who died in a plane crash. But it turns out Leo isn't dead; he's in Las Vegas with the $300,000 the airline paid to his wife. So Chili follows him to Vegas and then on to Hollywood, where he hooks up with movie producers, actors, and studio execs. Getting Leo becomes a movie pitch unfolding in a city where every move you make is a potential scene, and making it big isn't all that different from making your bones: You gotta know who to pitch, who to hit, and how to knock 'em dead.

Elmore Leonard, a literary icon praised by The New York Times Book Review as "the greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever," has captured the imagination of millions of readers with his more than three dozen books.In this short fiction collection, Leonard demonstrates the superb characterizations, dead-on dialogue, vivid atmosphere, and driving plots that have made him a household name -- and once again illustrates that the line between the law and the lawbreakers is not as firm as we might think.Federal marshal Karen Sisco, from the bestselling novel Out of Sight, returns in "Karen Makes Out," once again inadvertently mixing pleasure with business. In "Fire in the Hole," Raylan Givens, last seen in Riding the Rap and Pronto, meets up with an old friend, but they're now on different sides of the law. In the title story, "When the Women Come Out to Dance," Mrs. Mahmood gets more than she bargains for when she conspires with her maid to end her unhappy marriage.All nine stories are Elmore Leonard at his vivid, hilarious, and unfailingly human best.

Al Rosen was doing just fine, hiding out in Israel -- until he decided to play Good Samaritan and rescue some elderly tourists from a hotel fire. Now his picture's been carried in the stateside press, and the guys he's been hiding from know exactly where he is. And they're coming to get him -- crooked lawyers, men with guns and money, and assorted members of the Detroit mob who are harboring a serious grudge. Playtime in paradise is officially over; Rosen's a million miles from home with a bull's eye on his back. And his only ally is a U.S. Embassy marine who's been looking for a war . . . and who's damn well found one.