Elmore Leonard has been called the greatest living writer of crime fiction. His novels have been compared to the works of the acknowledged masters of the genre, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Critics praise Leonard's uncanny ear for dialogue, and many claim that his best fiction, steeped in the recklessness and violence of criminal America, offers significant commentary on contemporary life. It took thirty years of hard work, however, and the publication of more than twenty novels, before Leonard achieved the recognition that has since become commonplace. His first books were Westerns, which he wrote not out of literary ambition, but as a potentially lucrative form of entertainment. Motivated by the waning interest in Westerns, Leonard took up the subject of crime. His audience grew, and his books are now regularly on best-seller lists. With several film adaptations to his credit, he has become that rare, marketable author...