R.I.P. Elmore Leonard, and now it’s time to look back at some of my favorite Elmore Leonard books (and adaptations). I haven’t read them all (I don’t think I’ve read a single one of his Westerns, preferring his crime fiction period instead), but I’ve read more than a dozen and these are my favorites. I really feel like Leonard’s absolute best period is between the late 80’s to the early 2000’s. That’s when he really started hitting his crime-God groove and before he struggled in his last years with works like Djibouti (a pirate story that really should be more fun than it is) and Raylan (a mess of a novel built to capitalize on the TV show that really reads more like fan fiction). In honor of Leonard, this will be mercifully brief, the man hated large chunks of clunky prose.
[Which ones you prefer off this list will largely be a matter of taste. Some are just pure fun, while others are technically “better” with more scope.]
5. Maximum Bob (1991)—-A very fun story about an eccentric Florida judge and some colorful villains who want to do him harm. My first real introduction to Leonard and I read it in an afternoon, roughly the average time it takes to finish one of his books.
4. Bandits (1987)—-The rare Leonard book that is somewhat political since it details not just thugs but Nicaraguan thugs with military connections. Hints at a new, globalized crime before anyone else was really talking about it.
3. Tishomingo Blues (2002)—-Leonard has said this is his personal favorite of the books he’s written, and it’s easy to see why. This tale of a black con-man who tangles with the Dixie mafia in rural Mississippi is exciting, hilarious, and tense. Leonard’s last real masterpiece in the crime genre. Don Cheadle has been trying to adapt this book for years and it’s a shame he never got around to it.
2. Kill Shot (1989)—-Widely considered to be Leonard’s best book. It details an ordinary couple (the rare non-grifters in Leonard’s neo-noir schemes) who witness a murder and must enter witness protection to get away from the killers. If that premise sounds generic, trust me, it isn’t. [But stay away from the awful adaptation of the book by the same name.]
1. Cuba Libre (1998)—-A mash-up of sprawling historical fiction and tight crime drama set during the Cuban War of 1898. It works brilliantly on both levels as we really do feel immersed in the period but the plot keeps churning forward as our arms-dealing hero works to get revenge on a wealthy sugar-baron who cheated him. The book seems to suggest that people (and their criminal minds) are the same throughout history and it’s just the calendar that keeps changing.
The Best Adaptations of His Work
5. The pilot for “Justified” based off his Fire in the Hole short story. Creates a fully immersive world in 60 minutes as we dive deep into Kentucky coal country.
4. “Jackie Brown” based off his novel Rum Punch. Quentin Tarantino’s loving homage to both blaxploitation and Leonard novels was considered a misfire at the time coming off the huge post-Pulp Fiction expectations but it’s actually better than the book in a lot of ways.
3. The entire series of “Justified.” Elmore has written a handful of books around the Raylan Givens character (the exceptional Bravo is one, the subpar Raylan is another), which is why I separate the entire series from its more focused pilot episode. Justified is the first truly successful TV adaptation of his work.
2. “Get Shorty” based off his novel of the same name. This is the most faithful adaptation of Leonard’s breezy style. The thing moves like a pleasant bullet, allowing scenes of light hilarity to shift into quick bursts of violence.
1. “Out of Sight” based off his novel of the same name. Although “Get Shorty” is more faithful to Leonard, Out of Sight is just an excellent movie period. Director Steven Soderbergh deepens the Leonard style to a more mysterious, sexy take that sees unbelievable chemistry between Jennifer Lopez (never better she is here) and George Clooney, whose romantic bank robber was just vulnerable and charming enough to save Clooney’s fledging post-Batman and Robin film career.