Elmore Leonard Novels

[Cole]

Are there any Elmore Leonard fans out there in DVX land? I have been a fan of Justified since it came out and want to start reading some of his novels. What I am not sure of is if there is a preferred order to the reading. I know they are not all related but I thought I'd ask for a good place to start.

Thanks,
Cole

 

[Bruce Watson]

Are there any Elmore Leonard fans out there in DVX land? I have been a fan of Justified since it came out and want to start reading some of his novels. What I am not sure of is if there is a preferred order to the reading. I know they are not all related but I thought I'd ask for a good place to start.

I don't think there is a required order. I tend to read a few books from an author, and if I like them enough, I start with the earlier books and work forward in time (takes patience and a good public library inter-library loan program if your state is lucky enough to have such a program. Without it, good luck finding novels from the 1950s. Just sayin'.). I like do this because I like to see how a given writer progresses. Leonard's first novel was The Bounty Hunters from 1953. It was a different world back then!

Leonard was a surprise to me. I found him by picking up more recent works -- I think my first was Get Shorty. I had no idea that he started out as a western writer. Then I found a collection of his western short stories called The Tonto Woman and Other Western Stories. I was absolutely blown away. I had no idea he could write so vividly.

A list of his books is on his website.