home > mystery novel authors > elmore leonard

Elmore Leonard

Born Elmore John Leonard Jr. on October 11, 1925 in New Orleans, Louisiana, Mr. Leonard wrote his earliest novels in longhand and on the sly while working at an advertising agency. He still refuses to use a computer and writes everything first in longhand, then on a typewriter.

Elmore Leonard first became interested in writing in 1935, after reading the serialized version of 'All Quiet On The Western Front' in the Detroit Times. This inspired Mr. Leonard to write a number of things during his school years. After graduating from High School in 1943, Elmore Leonard joined the Navy to serve as a Seabee in the South Pacific for the remainder of World War II.

In 1946, Elmore Leonard enrolled with the University of Detroit and began once more to write. Mr. Leonard graduated in 1950 with a major in English and Philosophy. Elmore Leonard wrote a number of novels and short stories, but when his novel 'Hombre' was chosen by Western Writers of America as one of the best western novels of all time, he finally became confident enough to quit his job and devote himself to writing full time.

Switching from westerns to crime when the western market began to dry up, Elmore Leonard has had a number of bestselling novels to his credit as well as movie contracts.

Elmore Leonard has had three nominations for the Edgar Allen Poe Award by the Mystery Writers of America, and won Best Novel in 1983 for his work 'LaBrava.' Mr. Leonard has also won the first annual Hammet Prize in 1991 from the North American International Crime Writers Association. In 1992, Elmore Leonard received the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Mr. Leonard has had a number of his books turned into movies and mini-series on TV.

Elmore Leonard presently lives with his wife Christine in Bloomfield Village, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, in Oakland County. Mr. Leonard has fathered five children and is grandfather to nine.

Elmore Leonard's Website

Murder Mystery Reviews

Books by this author we have reviewed:

back

vermont pottery