Elmore Leonard Books

If you enjoy underdog versus violent criminals- stories, this is for you...

Of course our man Majestyk is dynamite in a plain brown wrapper...

(They shoulda just let him bring in his melons..............)

Elmore Leonard's 1974 pulp thriller owes much of its renown to a film treatment starring Charles Bronson. But as a freestanding novel, 'Mr. Majestyk' is a sturdy piece of craftsmanship and a benchmark for the genre. Just 216 pages long in the recent HarperTorch softcover edition, it is the engaging story of Vincent Majestyk, a former POW from the American tactical missions in Laos, who finds his Arizona melon-growing business under siege by local mob bosses.

'Mr. Majestyk' uses an intricate storyline, placing Vincent at odds with mob head Frank Renda, the police, and his loyal farmhand Nancy Chavez, with whom he falls in love despite a stoic attitude. The novel is mostly driven by Majestyk's intense self-respect and desire to live on his own terms. Leonard keeps a fairly good pace in advancing the story, providing balanced character insights and a limited but well-made helping of shootouts and car chases.

During lulls in the action, 'Majestyk' interestingly portrays migrant farm work that still employs thousands of Chicanos in the United States each year. Leonard's Arizona setting is a living, breathing one, allowing us to feel the dust, intense sunlight, and stillness. The lead players are given enough color and shape for readers to stay interested, although character development is typically lacking. Plot gaps and far-fetched situations (two chronic symptoms of thrillers) also have their place in 'Majestyk,' but the story is far too entertaining, at least in my opinion, for these weaknesses to jump off the page and spoil a reader's enjoyment.

'Majestyk' is recommended for thriller fans and available from HarperTorch in an October 2002 printing. A sneak preview of Leonard's 'Tishomingo Blues' is also provided after the novel's conclusion.

From the prolific pen of legendary crime writer Elmore Leonard, Mr. Majestyk is a short, straightforward action adventure novel with a touch of romance. Vince Majestyk is an Arizona melon grower who rather unwisely incurs the wrath of a professional killer. It's a story of cat and mouse that rapidly changes to one of cat and cat.
This is a solidly written novel, which I'd have to characterize as a lesser work of the Leonard canon. The dialogue, as we've come to expect from Leonard, rings very true. Quirky characters and off the wall situations, staples of the author's best fiction, do not play much of a role here.
Mr. Majestyk is an easy, enjoyable read. But it is not the unique brand of writing that accounts for Elmore Leonard's stellar reputation.

Of course this book doesn't stack up against most other Leonard novels because it is after all a novelization, and a brief one at that. However, Mr. Majestyk makes for an enjoyable read given the right circumstances and certainly makes for a lot of fun. Tuck this one in your pocket on your way to the beach or the DMV and enjoy it for what it is.

Mr. Majestyk is an interesting read considering that it dodges many of the pitfalls of your typical macho story yet still delivers the goods. First of all, it is the antagonist who wants revenge instead of the other way around. Instead of a simple revenge story (Mr. subliminal now utters "Kill Bill") where the hero/heroine kills everyone that tried to screw them over, Mr Majestyk must stand up to the powerful Frank Renda, who is of course hellbent on revenge. Secondly, Leonard makes interesting use of Majestyk's previous run-in with the law. Instead of your typical story about a guy that tries to go straight but the street life pulls him back in for one big score (um can you say After Hours? and every other novel from the 80's?), Majestyk was actually a straight guy all along. Since Majestyk has no credibility with the authorities, he must cover his own bacon.

Overall, this book is a straight-up story that should be enjoyed for it's simplicity alone. I read it in between Desperation and the Regulators, two very long Stephen King books, and it made for a nice little break. Chances are fellow readers, what you take away from Mr. Majestyk is what you started with. Just make sure to spit out the seeds.

Elmore Leonard is the king of crime fiction. We know this because the covers of all his paperbacks say so, and it's so. Nelson DeMille, Ed McBain, Joseph Wambaugh, and others all have their points, but no one has consistently produced the level of crime fiction that Leonard has over the course of five decades now.

"Mr. Majestyk" isn't part of that legacy. It's a sturdy, muscle-minded, no-frills crime story that 100 other guys could have churned out in the 1970s, and many did. The idea of a peaceable loner coming up against dark criminal forces, only to be revealed as more formidable than any of his adversaries banked on, was old then and older now. Characterization is limited. The atmosphere is arid as a sun-baked arroyo. Most surprisingly for Leonard, the dialogue is long on brawn and short on brains. "Shut up, %**$^@#" is about the best the normally loquacious Leonard seems able, or interested, in presenting.

A good review elsewhere on this page notes the book was actually written after the movie, which became a Charles Bronson vehicle after Clint Eastwood dropped out. You can kind of smell that star positioning behind the unpromising premise of a melon farmer who runs into trouble while hiring migrant workers in the American Southwest. Dirty Harry wanted to show he wasn't all about gunning down minorities, and apparently Chuck Bronson felt the same (though this movie came out just before "Death Wish" did during the same year, 1974).

The novel doesn't shed much light in the migrant worker situation, or try to. Nor does it offer much insight into the Vietnam vet, Majestyk's previous line of work. It spends its short span setting up Majestyk's unenviable situation. Getting busted by the cops for defending his work site against a small-time hoodlum, he winds up crossing a much nastier and more powerful criminal during an escape attempt. Can he dispense with this threat and get his melons to market so he doesn't lose his farm?

Though these sort of novels typically shortchange the police to provide the non-cop hero with more of a lone-wolf situation, "Mr. Majestyk" overamps this by making the fuzz Barney-Fife-caliber hopeless. For example, their case against chief villain Frank Renda goes up in smoke when a cop who collared Renda is gunned down during the escape fight. Didn't the officer write a report, or was he just going to testify at the trial from memory? Instead, the police seem to throw up their hands and rely on using Mr. Majestyk for bait (and then fail to keep adequate track of him.)

Lucky for law and order, the bad guys in this one are even dumber. Frank Renda, we are told, is a hard guy "cool, patient, like someone who moved slowly, without wasted effort." Well, that is until Renda gets it in his head to waste Majestyk. Then there's a lot of wasted effort. Renda just won't quit, even as it becomes obvious that his obsession for killing the melon farmer who gave him some static is going to cost him another trip to the big house, perhaps the good graces of his mob overlords, and a good half-dozen of his best foot soldiers. Renda's no psycho killer; he's actually diversified. We are told his other affairs include a restaurant linen service and a string of massage parlors. But a few minutes with Majestyk turns him into a kamikaze. For a cold-blooded trigger man, Renda runs a bit too hot to be believed.

Majestyk doesn't emote much, which makes him a perfect Charles Bronson hero. Actually, Bronson apparently gave the character more charm in the movie version (I haven't seen it), which makes you wonder whether Leonard underwrote the character deliberately after losing Eastwood's services to construct his protagonist around and being at a loss as to what to replace him with. There's an attempt at presenting a romance, but why bother when we don't know much about what draws Majestyk and his migrant worker friend together except he likes the way she looks in a pair of jeans and she likes the fact he's a fair labor contractor. [Cue violins.]

The final Wild West-style showdown borrows from many better stories, and wraps itself up too neatly in less than ten pages. Leonard obviously didn't waste more than a month punching this out, getting it in place as a film tie-in that would support him while he toiled over more ambitious fare. It's a decent story for a bus trip, but "Majestyk" in name only. Nearly any other Leonard is a better bet.

I found that it moved very slow. I had to force myself to finish it. This was the first book I have read by Dan Gordon, and I have to say it will probably be the last. If I could go back to the discount store and get my money back I would.

This book took a few moments to adjust to the tone and pacing but once I did, it was one of the most fun reads I've had in ages. The characters were devious, cunning and I felt lucky to be inside their sick but fascinating little world. Dani Kahane, the narrator seems as helplessly attracted to these people as I became... I walk around now feeling as though I know Nora and Jack Wolfe, Joan Chan and Danil Kahane and I miss them and their little world now that I've finished the book. If you're looking for a pleasant, quick read that's going to exercise your brain enough but not too much, this is one to pick up.

Sun and sand seems incompatible with the nightmare vision of noir, but as Dan Gordon shows in "Just Play Dead" that passion, lust and hate retains their full power, even in Hawaii.Running a fast 227 pages, with narrower margins and larger type than is usually seen, "Just Play Dead" speeds along with the pace of a Hawaiian vacation, and Gordon ties up the schemes a little too hurriedly and throws in some resolutions that were not properly founded. We don't know if Dani Kahane is a good cop, but he is a fascinating character, and before the last page, Gordon pulls one last joker from the deck that promises that the scheming will continue in the sequel. This is a fun read, with scheming and double-crossing in the style of "Ruthless People" and "The Grifters."

This is one of those Elmore Leonard books that you just wont find in a bookstore. City Primeval has the characters you expect from a Leonard book, it has the banter, it has the tounge in cheek humor, and it has the plot that Leonard used to such a degree of sucess later on. But in the end, this book just does not meld together in the way that Leonard later perfected. The characters, the bad guys are just a little too stupid and evil here. The whole story relies so heavily upon them, that it falls apart due to Leonards not having yet found his magic that pops up in later books like Get Shorty.

This book was written almost three decades ago and is dated. I think that this might have been released right before Leonard went on a tear and churned out a good ten classics that are not only hillarious, but influenced a generation of writers like Carl Hiasson and Kinky Friedman. Leonard started out writing westerns and crime novels mostly set in Detroit where this book is set. Later he moved all of the action to Florida, and these are where the best of his works are set.

The book starts out with Clement Mansell, a ruthless punk, gunning down a judge every one hates and a young whore the judge was out with. From here it becomes a conflict between Mansell and a hard nosed cop Detective Raymond Cruz.

This book isn't all bad, and is worth reading if you have read most of Leonards more recent work and are wanting to take on everything the author has written. But I would suggest that you not start with this book. Try Get Shorty, or one of his from around 1990-95, and I would say that you will be much happier.

Clement Mansell is a killer without a conscious, and the guts to match. Is he going to blink? And if he does, the question is who's going to make him do it? Raymond Cruz, the cop who is nearly as crazy as he is? Carolyn Wilder, his attorney who is as hard as nails? or some one else? Each page is more intense than the one before.

I've never rated a Leonard book less than 3 stars, and usually feel they are worth a 4 or 5 star rating......Unfortunately, this book is a drag.

I just didn't care what happened to any of them.

Be Cool I enjoyed this title, as one completely unfamiliar with the pop music authoring and publishing scene. It's an unusual setting for an attention-grabbing murder mystery, and there's enough violence and intrigue to keep you turning the pages. Not much sex, but what there is, is honest. I did think it just a bit longish, and the main character simply too capable and connected for belief. As for the music-world characters' believability -- how would I know? Recommended.

I am not a big fiction reader but I have found a new favorite author. This book is a very easy read and moves very well.

Another in the great series of Elmore Leonard crime stories, Be Cool is the sequel to Get Shorty, and an innovative story within a story. When the story opens, Chili Palmer has been through a successful film project, and a failed sequel, that have taken him from Brooklyn/Miami gangster to top of the world in Hollywood to just another guy.

Then things get really interesting. After Chili's lunch date is gunned down in front of his eyes, he decides to take control of the deceased's record company and manage a band, described as AC DC meets Patsy Cline. Very quickly Chili makes enemies with the Russian mob, the scorned band manager, his gay Somoan bodyguard, gun-toting rappers, and the police. He solves the problem by setting up his enemies on a collision course with each other.

Elmore knows the world of Hollywood production and deal-making, and shows how a guy from Brooklyn makes all the world a stage. Chili Palmer is only looking to find a good story for a movie, and if that requires crossing some bad guys, well, let's see how it plays out.

This novel comes off like a high schooler wanting to write about the movie and music industries. In between the entertainment biz cliches, the author can only think to put various assination hits. some of the characters are interesting but not believable, and they certainly can't make up for the braindead plot. Read some of his other novels and skip this one.

This happens to be the first audio book that I have sampled. I usually prefer to read my books, but a recent change in my work life has forced me to do a lot more driving, so I thought that I'd try this format to help pass the time. It took a bit of getting used to to have the book read to me, but I rather enjoyed the experience. It certainly does help pass the time while driving. I would never choose to listen to audio-books at home because I derive such pleasure from reading, though. Anyway, to the story. This book is a quite a bit different from what we expect from Elmore Leonard. It takes us to Cuba just before the Spanish-American war (1897) and we see the country as it was then through some ex-patriot Americans' eyes. I'm not sure how true to actual are the historical facts, but the story was pretty good. There is a pretty good villain in the story, and the cowboy and his girl are kind of fun. The best thing about Elmore Leonard stories is the dialogue and this one does not disappoint in this area either. I look forward to more audio-books.

I have read quite a few Elmore Leonard novels and short stories and always find them fast paced, easy reads. Cuba Libre, however, was harder than most to relate to. It is set in Cuba around the time of the Spanish American War and I think it was an odd setting to choose. That doesn't necessarily hamper the novel, but I think it makes it not so representative of Leonard's work. If you are an Elmore Leonard fan, by all means read it and enjoy it. If you haven't read his work before, I would start with something more representative, like Get Shorty or Tishomingo Blues. Then come back to this.

Elmore Leonard's "Cuba Libre" bears an inapt title. "Cuba Libre" implies that Leonard has created some of his trademark cowboys and thieves getting caught up in a political revolution. To a certain extent that's true, as the book indeed has some classic Leonardesque characters, and there is a revolution in the wake of the U.S.S. Maine being blown up, but the war that racks the Cuban countryside rarely rises above an inconvenience (or an opportunity) for Leonard's cast of ne'er-do-wells.

Fortunately, a possibly inapt title is a forgivable sin. We read Mr. Leonard's novels for their wicked dialogue and hard-edged yet open-hearted heroes (along with the hard-edged and hard-hearted villains). "Cuba Libre" has these traits in spades.

Ostensibly the "hero" of the tale, Ben Tyler runs both horses and guns to Cuba on the eve of the Maine's destruction. The imminent war sets devious wheels a-turning, as does Tyler's instant infatuation with Amelia, a spoiled rich girl from New Orleans. Problem is, Amelia's beau is Rollie Boudreaux, an amoral business tycoon from America who uses ruthlessness to advance both his business and romantic interests.

Leonard's characters hop-scotch through a byzantine plot that involves robbery, murder, kidnapping, extortion, torture, false imprisonment, jailbreaks, political revolution, and more than a wee bit of plain old thievery. Along the way, our heroes and villains meet other characters of unknown morals but a well-demonstrated ability to kill at the drop of a hat. For Tyler, it is easy to come to Cuba having never killed a man only to discover that he has quite the talent for it.

Perhaps not one of Leonard's great novels (I have not read enough of him to judge), "Cuba Libre" offers a hardboiled plot that feels surprisingly truncated. The possibilities revolutionary Cuba offers for an author of Leonard's capabilities seem endless, and yet "Cuba Libre" really does not go very far with them. This book, for example, completely lacks the scope of James Ellroy's "American Tabloid" or "The Cold Ten Thousand," even though the locale offers such a potentially broad canvas.

An easy book to like, "Cuba Libre" offers a fun read, as far as it goes, although you will be a bit disappointed that it doesn't try to go further.

This was my first Elmore Leonard novel, and I have to say, I thought it was just okay. The historical setting was interesting, the protagonists (Ben and Amelia) were quite likeable, and the villains were suitably vile, and for a while there the plot looked like it was really going somewhere, albeit slowly. However, the climactic train heist, with a good half dozen separate parties after the loot (one hell of a set-up), basically fizzled, and after that not much of interest occurred.

I wouldn't say Cuba Libre was a waste of time to read, and I might try another Elmore Leonard novel again sometime, but if I'd had a bit more advance warning about this one I probably would have skipped it.

i read "cuba libre" because a friend left it behind after moving away from my city and i'd never read an elmore leonard novel, though i'd heard of him many times...it's no surprise that she didn't take this book along with her, since it is completely forgettable... this is the kind of book you would expect to find sitting between a package of cheez-wizz and the tabloids at the checkout counter in your local grocery store, and it is of about the same literary quality... the characters are totally absurd archetypes, the writing is about 5th-grade level and the use of the spanish language is downright insulting (because of all the mistakes, misspellings and the like)... how did such an interesting historical event get wrapped up in such a mediocre novel? i would just buy a history book on the origins of the spanish-american 'war' and would probably find it much more fascinating... in any case, it was impossible for me to read beyond the 60% point, so at least this scathing critique won't give away the ending: to tell you the truth, i couldn't care less what happened to any of the characters.

I had a lot of fun reading this mess of a book, but if you are looking for a 'normal' novel then you might want to run the other way. This is NOT a book to be taken very seriously (and if you try then you'll probably end up hating it). It's like the pass a long stories you wrote with friends back in school - it jumps around adding and dumping characters at will and it sometimes seems like the authors wanted to see how crazy they could make their chapter end to see how the next author would write their way out of the mess. I think it was pure ridiculously demented fun from Dave Barry's opening to Carl Hiassen's ending.

If you are a fan of any of these authors, do yourself the favor of sticking with their individual efforts. Hiaasen's chapter (the final one) cracks broadly at the missteps of several previous authors. I enjoyed only 3 chapters (Berry, Hall, & Hiaasen), and I put up with the rest to see how Mr. Hiaasen would tie it up. Even his talents could not salvage this - and here, I strongly agree with other reviewers - MESS.

I found Naked Came The Manatee to be an enjoyable read. I liked the different writing styles that wove the storyline together. I borrowed the book from our local library and liked it enough to buy my own copy. It was interersting and entertaining. The reason I gave it four stars was because I thought Dave Barry's first chapter, though good, was a little too chock full of detail. Although I have read Carl Hiaasen's Flush and Hoot among others and have enjoyed reading Dave Barry for years, I was not familiar with some of the other writers. Naked Came The Manatee has whetted my interest in reading books they have penned. All in all, a pleasant way to spend an afternoon reading. ~ Mrs. B.

First, I'd like to tell the authors that after reading this book, each of you owe me a few hours of my time which disappeared, worthlessly, from my life.

What starts out as a great idea - a gaggle of writers each crafting a chapter of a novel - quickly crashes into a confusing, poorly played game of "telephone."

You know "telephone" - the kids' game where one whispers something to the person next to him or her and the words circle the room, ending in an incomprehensible string of gibberish?

Naked Came the Manatee is a hobo stew of styles, with each writer leading us through silly plot moves and adding their own characters.

While reading each of these authors might be fun, their collective sum only reveals a bookfull of defective parts.

Back in the primary school days you probably partook in the exercise of everyone in the class writing a paragraph then passing the paper to the person sitting next to them who wrote the next paragraph, passed it to the next person and so on until everyone in the class had contributed to each of the 30 or so stories. Well that is exactly what the publishers of Naked Came the Manatee have done, with thirteen Florida authors, just on a bigger scale.

The quality of each chapter obviously varies with the quality of each author but that adds to the fun. Even though Hiaasen is on the spine also doesn't mean that all the authors are surreal humorous type writers either with some chapters being very crime thriller in style and even one, chapter 11 being poetic philosophy (must admit didn't really enjoy this one.) The story flowed on quite well (except from chapter 10 to 11) from author to author in most parts but you could definitely pick up the difference in style with each transition. The story overall lacked the high quality that many of these authors such as Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry have achieved in their own novels but it was still a very good and enjoyable read.

The basic plot of Naked Came the Manatee revolves around a Manatee, called Booger by the locals who is either part of or around the main action. Throw in a 102 year old woman, Fidel Castro, shiny steel boxes, dim-witted criminals, lawyers and politicians as well as the locals of Coconut Grove and you've got a pretty fun storyline.

If you like the multiple author novel and want to read another one that Dave Barry is in grab a copy of The Putt at the End of the World. Barry teams up with Lee K Abbott, Richard Bausch, James Crumley, James W Hall, Tami Hoag, Tim O'Brien, Ridley Pearson and Les Standiford in this surreal golfing adventure that golf related is to the world of novels what Happy Gilmore is to the world of movies.

The prolific output of crime fiction writer Elmore Leonard somehow eluded me, and there is a possibility I took on the wrong book for my first encounter. He's written some 35 novels, and "The Big Bounce" at its release more than thirty years ago represented his move away from westerns.
The story holds up surprisingly well, despite its age, and - if not for references to then-current Detroit baseball players and the prices of homes - it could have been written last year. Baseball is the background of Jack Ryan, a washed-up minor leaguer who has fallen into petty crime.
He's not the brightest crayon in the box, but he's colorful enough to make up for it. Immediately after accepting a handyman's job, he meets a high-roller's mistress who believes Jack and his criminal background are the ticket to the scamming of her Sugar Daddy's payroll.
Jack isn't so easily convinced, although he has a tough time saying no to Nancy, who is bored with the life of the idle rich. Her idea of fun is throwing rocks through beach house windows and then running away when the lights come on.
Leonard's casual style makes it easy to fall in with his characters, wondering to what degree the thrill-seeking Nancy will go before her actions will finally bring her down, and marveling at Jack's ability to float along at life's fringes. The strength of "The Big Bounce" is in its characters, but unfortunately, there is little in the way of plot to keep the story heading toward a finish. That may be the reason the book has no conclusion. You turn the last page looking for the rest. There isn't any more.
To appreciate his writing style, "The Big Bounce" is a ball, but as a well-plotted story, it simply falls flat.

I am an avid Elmore Leonard fan and have lost count of the number of books of his that I have read. Some of them rank with the best crime fiction ever written. However, this is not one of them. In fact, this is the first one I have read that is actually bad. The main problem is the very thin plot, which Leonard all too frequently compensates for with flashbacks to the character's earlier life, which have nothing whatever to do with the plot. It is obvious that he does this just to fill space and stretch this short story out to book length.

That having been said, I must say that I liked the book's ending. It was surprising and abrupt. But this book is only for Dutch-ophiles who may be curious to see what the master's early work was like.

Elmore Leonard has done much better than this and I am usually a big fan. Jack Ryan and Nancy Hayes are two very good characters and are well developed.
Unfortunately, a lot of Elomore Leonard's usual humor is missing from this book. Somehow the pacing seems off as well.
Leonard's ability to find distinct locations for his capers and describe them well works here as usual. I would never have suspected that cucumber farms and Michigan beach vacation spots for a crime novel

The most astonishing and strange thing about this book I find are the quotes from newspapers saying it's a great book. When I finished the book I thought the clue, story and good ending everyone is talking about were simply missing as I bought it secondhand on a trip trough China. I found out that the book really has no ending, no suspense, no clue and no good reason te read it. Too bad I just found out after I finished it. It's really a question of whether it should be called a story. I have no clue why someone would read or write it, as it is about as interesting as listening in on a conversation between some dull people on a train.

Leonard's style is to create strong, engaging characters and "see what happens." This story has neither interesting characters, nor does very much happen. Leonard is also famous for looking into the lives of petty crooks - but these are among the pettiest. A couple of selfish and self-indulgent losers get their kicks throwing rocks through the windows of homes. The readers are invited to giggle with glee at the stupid fools who live within, and stumble into the night to see what has happened. I tossed this book after reading the first half - a first for me. I have read every Elmore Leonard I could get my hands on. But this one, I couldn't wait get rid of. Skip this book.

The rich simplicity of this attractive book's witty economical exercise exemplifies how "to leave out the part that readers tend to skip" (rule #10).

Personally, I would purchase this elegant volume only if I were a huge admirer of Elmore Leonard, or wanted to enjoy the drawings again and again, not for its sensible but minimal information.

However, as I took in Leonard's cogent ideas, nodding at his props to fellow writers, I savored the experience of handling and reading this artful object, and appreciated how successfully it was conceived and produced.

The misplaced expectations of those not open to a similar sort of experience will not be met.

This is a total and complete ripoff. Want to know his "rules?" Google the book title and print them off on a couple of pages...

The 10 rules of writing take less than 10 minutes to read. At nearly $10 for the Kindle edition that is $1/minute. Spendy! The rules are informative. The writing, what there is of it, is witty. The illustrations are all but invisible on the Kindle. Sadly, unlike the print edition, you can't get your money back.

Ironically, virtually the entire contents of this "book" were in the review I read in my local newspaper. Amazon should be embarassed to offer this Kindle edition.

This is a nice gift book for a (young) beginning writer or just someone who particularly appreciates illustrated books. I saw this on a "Top [insert number] books of 2007" list and mistakenly thought it was actual rules of writing. I guess it has been a dry year for the nonfiction genre?

This was a gift that I ended up returning, but I didn't think it was terrible. It's just not something I would choose for myself. I prefer something useful for improving my writing. This 10 "Rules" of Writing book is more of a gimmick than anything else.

This book is considered by many readers a rip-off, a magazine article bloated into a book.
My own thought upon reading the rules themselves is that they are simply Leonard's rules for describing his own successful form of mystery story - telling.
His rules are primarily rules for what not to do, rules for making the writing economical, for making the story move without distraction.
Do not open the story with descriptions of the weather: Do not write a prologue: Never use a verb for dialogue other than 'said': Avoid detailed description of characters: Don't go into detail describing places and things: If it sounds like 'writing' correct it i.e. He explains that 'writing' is that too complicated in which one begins sentences with dependent clauses.
All in all a quite meager recipe although it does describe Leonard's practice.
If one wants to read something wonderful although a bit unkind on rules and writing one should look at Mark Twain's great essay on the errors in the writing of Fenimore Cooper.

This is quite possibly the worst biography I've ever read. There's some interesting information about Leonard's work habits and a broad overview of his life, but these elements are overwhelmed by some truly terrible writing. The author has a very annoying habit of injecting himself into the narrative, frequently writing "I asked Leonard if..." or "I asked (so-and-so) if," and giving totally extraneous and uninteresting details about how he got and conducted the interviews with Leonard and his friends and associates. Moreover, he writes his trite observations in the first person - "...thinking about it later, I thought, yeah, well, it does make sense - the guy is a fiction writer... he makes things up... the research, the attempts to attain accuracy in plot, character and setting, are, after all, secondary to spinning a good yarn...." I don't think this style of writing would pass muster in a high school paper. You'd be better off reading a Leonard novel you haven't gotten to yet. Hell, you'd be better off EATING a Leonard novel you haven't read yet. Get it from the library if you feel you must read it, but don't spend one red cent.

This was a book I made myself read because I found the character Mr. Challen was writing about so facinating. Unfortunately, the writing did not match the long and prolific life of Dutch Leonard. This was more like a high school term paper than a biography and did a disservice to the subject matter. The author kept mentioning his favorite books (which were most of them) but gave no real insight as to his subject's motivations. All in all, a real disappointment.