Elmore Leonard Jr.

Elmore Leonard Jr.

By Tom Kirvan

Known as one of America’s best crime writers, Elmore Leonard Jr. was also hailed as one of the finest authors who just happened to write about crime.

Whatever the case, Leonard carved out an award-winning career as a novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. His 1985 novel, “Glitz,” spent 16 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list, catapulting him to international fame and leading to a string of best sellers that included “52 Pick-Up,” “City Primeval,” “Kill Shot,” and “Get Shorty.” The hit television series “Justified” is based on Leonard’s character Raylan Givens, who appears in several of his novels.

At the time of his death on August 20, 2013, the 87-year-old Leonard was one of the most popular novelists of all time, selling tens of millions of copies over the course of his writing career. Thrice married and twice divorced, Leonard spent the later years of his life in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills. A native of New Orleans, Leonard grew up in Detroit where his father worked for General Motors. After serving with the Seabees during World War II, Leonard returned home to study at the University of Detroit, majoring in English and philosophy.

Elmore Leonard Jr.*

When his writing career flourished, Leonard earned the label “The Dickens of Detroit” because of the many intimate portraits of characters from the Motor City included in his writings. His fame also gave him license to pen his “Ten Rules of Writing,” which include: “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip” and “Never use an adverb to modify the verb ‘said’ . . . he admonished gravely.”

His most important rule, he said, is the one that neatly sums up the 10.

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it,” he said.

*Elmore Leonard circa 1990. Photograph: Marc Hauser Photography Ltd/Getty Images. The image of Elmore Leonard Jr. was retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/25/elmore-leonard-david-simon