New Releases by Elmore Leonard

German-born Walter Schoen, now living in Detroit, is a dead ringer for Heinrich Himmler. Walter''s American wife, Honey Deal, doesn''t know he''s a German spy, but she''s tired of telling him jokes he doesn''t understand—it''s time for a divorce. Along comes Carl Webster, the hot kid of the Marshals Service. He''s looking for a German officer who escaped from a POW camp in Oklahoma. Carl''s pretty sure Walter''s involved, so Carl gets to know Honey, hoping she''ll take him to Walter. Honey likes Carl and doesn''t much care that he''s married. But all Carl wants is to get his man without getting shot. It''s Elmore Leonard''s world—gritty, funny, and full of surprises.

Carl Webster, the hot kid of the marshals service, is polite, respects his elders, and can shoot a man driving away in an Essex at four hundred yards. Carl works out of the Tulsa, Oklahoma, federal courthouse during the 1930s, the period of America''s most notorious bank robbers: Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson -- those guys. Carl wants to be America''s most famous lawman. He shot his first felon when he was fifteen years old. With a Winchester. Louly Brown loves Carl but wants the world to think she is Pretty Boy Floyd''s girlfriend. Tony Antonelli of True Detective magazine wants to write like Richard Harding Davis and wishes cute little Elodie wasn''t a whore. She and Heidi and the girls work at Teddy''s in Kansas City, where anything goes and the girls wear -- what else -- teddies. Jack Belmont wants to rob banks, become public enemy number one, and show his dad, an oil millionaire, he can make it on his own. With tommy guns, hot cars, speakeasies, cops and robbers, and a former lawman who believes in vigilante justice, all played out against the flapper period of gun molls and Prohibition, The Hot Kid is Elmore Leonard -- a true master -- at his best.

Carl Webster, the hot kid of the marshals service, works out of the Tulsa, Oklahoma, federal courthouse during the 1930s. Louly Brown loves Carl but wants the world to think she is Pretty Boy Floyd''s girlfriend. Tony Antonelli of True Detective magazine wants to write like Richard Harding Davis and wishes cute little Elodie wasn''t a whore. Jack Belmont wants to rob banks and become public enemy number one. With tommy guns, hot cars, speakeasies, cops and robbers, and a former lawman who believes in vigilante justice, all played out against the flapper period of gun molls and Prohibition, The Hot Kid is Elmore Leonard -- a true master -- at his best.

The sequel to Chili Palmer''s hit movie Get Leo tanked and now Chili''s itching for a comeback. So when a power lunch with record-label executive and former associate Tommy Athens ends in a mob hit, he soon finds himself in an unlikely alliance with organized-crime detective Darryl Holmes and the likely next target of Russian gangsters. But where others see danger, Chili Palmer sees story possibilities. Enter Linda Moon, a singer with aspirations that go further than her current gig in a Spice Girls cover band. Chili takes over as Linda''s manager, entering the world of rock stars, pop divas, and hip-hop gangstas. As he wings his way to success in the music business with his trademark cool, Chili manipulates his adversaries and advances his friends, all the while basing the plot of his new film on the action that results. Be Cool is rife with drama, jealousy, and betrayal, and all Chili needs to do is survive to make a new box-office hit.

No one is more evocative of the dusty, gutsy hey-day of the American West than Elmore Leonard. And no story about a young writer struggling to launch his career ever matched its subject matter better than the tale behind Leonard''s Western oeuvre. In 1950, fresh out of college -- having written two "pointless" stories, as he describes them -- Leonard decided he needed to pick a market, a big one, which would give him a better chance to be published while he learned to write. In choosing between crime and Westerns, the latter had an irresistible pull -- Leonard loved movies set in the West. As he researched deeper into settings, Arizona in the 1880s captured his imagination: the Spanish influence, the standoffs and shootouts between Apache Indians and the U.S. cavalry ... His first dozen stories sold for 2 cents a word, for $100 each. The rest is history. This first-ever complete collection of Leonard''s thirty Western tales will thrill lovers of the genre, his die-hard fans, and everyone in between -- and makes a terrific study of the launch of a phenomenal career. From his very first story ever published -- "The Trail of the Apache" -- through five decades of classic Western tales, The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard demonstrates again and again the superb talent for language and gripping narrative that has made Leonard one of the most acclaimed and influential writers of our time.

Carmen Colson saw the scam. And now she and Wayne, her ironworker husband, have to pay. Because Blackbird kills smart and deadly. Richie kills stupid and crazy. Both are out to erase any living evidence--and when these lethal partners take up the chase, a safe place from killing is awfully hard to find.

In his more than three dozen books, Elmore Leonard has captured the imagination of millions of readers as few writers can. A literary icon praised by The New York Times Book Review as "the greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever," he has influenced many contemporary writers and is known for both the quality and the accessibility of his writing. In this collection of new and recently published short fiction, Leonard demonstrates the superb characterizations, dead-on dialogue, vivid atmosphere, and driving plotting that have made him a household name. And once more this master of crime illustrates that the line between the law and the lawbreakers is not as firm as we might think. Federal marshal Karen Sisco, from the bestselling novel Out of Sight, returns in "Karen Makes Out," once again inadvertently mixing pleasure with business. In "Fire in the Hole," Raylan Givens, last seen in Riding the Rap and Pronto, meets up with an old friend, but they''re now on different sides of the law. In the title story, "When the Women Come Out to Dance," Mrs. Mahmood gets more than she bargains for when she conspires with her maid to end her unhappy marriage. In all nine stories -- each unique in their own right -- reluctant heroes and laid-back lowlifes struggle for power, survival, and their fifteen minutes of fame. Vivid, hilarious, and unfailingly human, these stories ring true with Elmore Leonard''s signature deadpan social observations and diabolical eye for the foibles of the good guys and the bad.

After exhausting his mom''s gravy train, gambling, debt-ridden Palm Beach playboy Warren "Chip" Ganz decides to take somebody rich hostage--with the help of a Bahamian ex-con, a psycho gardener/enforcer, and the beautiful psychic Reverend Dawn. The trouble is they choose bookmaker Harry Arno--and Harry can scam with the best.

They laughed at Roberto Valdez and then ignored him. But when a dark-skinned man was holed up in a shack with a gun, they sent the part-time town constable to deal with the problem -- and made sure he had no choice but to gun the fugitive down. Trouble was, Valdez killed an innocent man. And when he asked for justice -- and some money for the dead man''s woman -- they beat Valdez and tied him to a cross. They were still laughing when Valdez came back. And then they began to die...

Father Terry Dunn thought he''d seen everything on the mean streets of Detroit, but that was before he went on a little retreat to Rwanda to evade a tax-fraud indictment. Now the whiskey-drinking, Nine Inch Nails T-shirt-wearing padre is back trying to hustle up a score to help the little orphans of Rwanda. But the fund-raising gets complicated when a former tattletale cohort pops up on Terry''s tail. And then there''s the lovely Debbie Dewey. A freshly sprung ex-con turned stand-up comic, Debbie needs some fast cash, too, to settle an old score. Now they''re in together for a bigger payoff than either could finagle alone. After all, it makes sense . . . unless Father Terry is working a con of his own.

Elmore Leonard once again demonstrates the superb talent for language and narrative that has made him one of the most acclaimed and influential writers in recent time through this stellar collection of short fiction that spans his career. From his very first short storyQ"The Trail of the Apache"Qthrough five decades of classic western tales, this is a must-have for fans of all ages. 0-06-072425-0$27.95 / HarperCollins Publishers

Kent Anderson * Edna Buchanan * Amanda Cross * James Crumley * Philip Friedman * James W. Hall * Ed McBain * Michael Malone * Joyce Carol Oates * Shel Silverstein * Eric van Lustbader Her toenails were bloodred, her lips were blue in Edna Buchanan''s "The Red Shoes," a riveting tale that takes us into the life of a foot fetishist who steps into the middle of a murder....What happens when a hard-nosed insurance investigator lights up a joint and sniffs out a case of arson? It''s a tale that only Elmore Leonard could tell, in "Sparks."...Elizabeth George reaches into English history in "I, Richard," as an academic obsessed by a priceless artifact plots a deadly course of seduction--only to discover that fate is the most quixotic mistress of all. From lethal spikes to fatal kisses, from mad dogs to battle-crazed Englishmen, here indeed is Murder and Obsession, in these and 12 other all-new stories from Anne Perry, Dennis Lehane, Eric van Lustbader and others. For these are the best of the best, America''s favorite writers exploring a deliciously chilling subject: obsession at its most insidious.

Pretty working-girl Jackie Burke is in a tight spot. She''s just been picked up at Palm Beach International with fifty grand and some blow stashed in her flight bag. Lucky for her, the Feds want something Jackie''s got: the inside track to Ordell Robbie, the notoriusly slick arms dealer. And they''re ready to deal--Ordell in exchange for her freedom. But Jackie''s got another ace up her sleeve. . .Enter Max Cherry, bail bondsman. Big, tough, basically decent Max is on the verge of divorce and tired of the same old grind. That''s where Jackie comes in. The fifty big ones are peanuts compared to what Ordell''s got locked away in Freeport. But when a blowsy blond blowhead and a none-too-bright ex con try to muscle in on the action, it''s time to pull and old bait and switch--where the good guys are played off against the bad guys--and where Jackie and Max hope to walk off into the Florida sunset with a hot half million in cold cash.

Ex-nun Lucy Nichols, ex-con Jack Delaney, and ex-cop and ex-con Roy Hicks attempt to steal several million dollars that was raised as aid for the Nicaraguan Contras

Karen Di Cilia married a man in the Mafia. When he died he left her $4,000,000 - and instructions that she never touch another man again. He had the connections to ensure that his will was carried out. His friends hired a hustler to guard her. However the hustler had other ideas.