Get Shorty

Elmore Leonard (1925–2013) was an American crime novelist and screenwriter whose taut, dialogue-driven crime fiction earned him the nickname 'the Dickens of Detroit' and the admiration of virtually every major crime writer in America. Born in New Orleans and raised in Detroit, Leonard began his career writing Western short stories and novels in the 1950s before shifting to crime fiction in the 1960s and 1970s and achieving mainstream bestseller status with books like Get Shorty (1990), Out of Sight (1996), and Rum Punch (1992). Leonard's fiction is celebrated above all for its dialogue—crackling, idiomatic, and perfectly characterised—and for its intricate plots driven by characters from the criminal underworld and the margins of American life. Read more →