RIP: Elmore Leonard - Big Daddy Of Crime Writing

Elmore Leonard: 1925-2013                         Photo: Wikipedia

I don't always read European crime stuff. I probably started reading crime fiction consistently after discovering Raymond Chandler. (Quelle surprise.)

But early on in my American crime fiction reading I discover Elmore Leonard and there is no doubt he was a master. Don't be fooled by the amount of Hollywood films that spin from his books. Elmore Leonard, who died yesterday at the age of 87, wrote crime fiction that became classics in their own right: sharp, sassy, tight, and gritty. I remember "Get Shorty" , "Out of Sight" and "Rum Punch".... I wish, amongst these, I could name a book that hasn't become a film.... but I can't. That's the way with Leonard. But for me the books came before the films.

Anyway... many people are referring to Leonard's "Ten rules of writing" to which Leonard himself added  "My most important rule is one that sums up the 10. If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."

Mmmm... I prob'ly can't say I could be a writer then.... think I fall down on all ten points. But...
Thankyou, Mr Leonard, for all those books.