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 Elmore Leonard passed away yesterday at the age of 87. I became acquainted with his writing in the 1980’s through his crime novels. I was intrigued by the gritty stories, quirky characters and his deft touch with dialogue. His characters spoke real language- they were never reciting lines. He often captured the moral ambivalence of people who lived in the vague frontier region between good and evil. Chili Palmer, for example, the protagonist of “Get Shorty”, is a criminal, a loan shark,  but the story’s hero.

I admit that, having come to Leonard’s work later in his career, I never read his earlier novels, which were mostly Westerns. He produced an impressive body of work over a span of more than 50 years. Several of his novels, both the Westerns and the crime stories, were made into movies. One of his short stories gave us US Marshall Raylon Givens, the lead character of the TV series “Justified.”

I heard Leonard speak many years ago at the New York Public Library. He came across as funny and self-effacing. There are many things that can be said in tribute to his accomplishments, but the combination being a popular writer of pulp-fiction while attaining the respect of the literary elite is most significant.

Elmore Leonard, a true American original.