Elmore Leonard

Leonard was known for crisp dialogue and memorable villains. "The bad guys are the fun guys," he said in a 1983 interview. "The only people I have trouble with are the so-called normal types." He died Tuesday at the age of 87.

Novelist Elmore Leonard. "Be Cool" (Delacorte Press) is his newest book. It continues the story of Chili Palmer, the small time Brooklyn crook in "Get Shorty" who became a Hollywood movie producer. John Travolta played Chili in the movie version. "Be Cool" has Palmer dabbling in the music industry. It's also soon to be a new film.

Novelist Elmore Leonard. He's 70 years old and has been called "the greatest living writer of crime fiction" (New York Times). Though he'd been writing for decades, critics didn't take notice of him until the 1980s. Now his work is known for it tight prose, "ear-perfect" dialogue and depiction of lower class life. Leonard's written thirty-two novels, including the bestsellers Pronto, Maximum Bob, and Get Shorty which has been made into a film, starring John Travolta and Gene Hackman.

The FX series, now in its final season, is based on Leonard's novella Fire in the Hole. Showrunner Graham Yost says, "I look at this show as Elmore Leonard's show, and we're all in service of him."