Elmore Leonard

Elmore "Dutch" Leonard

1925-2012

One of the greats in modern genre literature, Dutch Leonard, has passed away from complications of a stroke suffered last month. He was 87.  

His stories and books are too many to list here, but here's the opening of the wiki:

Elmore Leonard
Born	(1925-10-11)October 11, 1925 New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Died	August 20, 2013(2013-08-20) (aged 87) Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, United States
Occupation	Author, screenwriter
Genres	Pulp fiction, Westerns, crime fiction

Elmore John Leonard Jr. (October 11, 1925 – August 20, 2013) was an American novelist and screenwriter. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were Westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.

Among his best-known works are Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Hombre, Mr. Majestyk and Rum Punch, which was filmed as Jackie Brown. Leonard's short stories include ones that became the films 3:10 to Yuma and The Tall T, as well as the current TV series on FX, Justified.

I was a long-time fan, read all his books I could find, and have reviewed Justified here, along with some fun connections to Leonard's other work in his most recent Raylan.

We never met, though we did once exchange a couple of letters, back in the papermail days.
He had written a book about a prison escape, (Out of Sight) which was later made into a movie starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, and in the book, got some gun stuff wrong.

That was unusual for him, so I dropped him a note. Did he know that the chances of the character using a .38 auto pistol were really slim?

Actually, yes, he said. He had written .380 auto, and a helpful copy editor had "fixed" it for him, assuming he had made a mistake. He hoped to get the next edition of the book changed back. 

It was an affable exchange, and as I recall, his letter was handwritten. 

Adiós, Dutch.