Elmore Leonard Novel, Free!
He's been called "The Poet-Laureate Of Wild Assholes With Guns."

I also highly recommend The Hot Kid, which features the first appearance of Carl and Louly, two characters you'll read about in "Comfort." Oh yeah, and above, Elmore just happens to be seated in one of the locations from "The Hot Kid" -- the original electric chair, “Ole Sparky," from Oklahoma State Prison at McAlester, Oklahoma.

Here's what Mike Ripley has to say in his review of "The Hot Kid" in England's Birmingham Post (the most recent one of many):

"Leonard is incapable of writing a boring line of dialogue"

Elmore Leonard is one of the most important and influential American crime writers since Raymond Chandler. The Hot Kid (Weidenfeld, £12.99) is something of a return to his roots as a writer of Westerns, for although updated to the 1930s and set in the bad lands of Oklahoma, this is basically a quickest-the-draw, US Marshals versus bank robbers yarn set to a “Duelling Banjo” soundtrack.

And a very good one it is too, with a large cast of lowlife desperadoes, gangsters’ molls and morally ambiguous law enforcement officers. There are also passing mentions of real life Depression pin-ups such as Bonnie and Clyde, Machine Gun Kelly and John Dillinger, all vying with each other to become Public Enemy No 1.

This ferociously cool fable proves once again that Leonard is incapable of writing a boring line of dialogue and you begin to think that maybe his very notes to the milkman should be preserved in a library somewhere.

They probably are.

But, that's not all! Don't forget to listen to Elmore, too. Here are four fantastic podcasts, by Gregg Sutter. Sure, I'm biased, but I still think you'll think they're great.

photo by Gregg Sutter