{"product_id":"four-novels-of-the-1970s-by-elmore-leonard","title":"Four Novels of the 1970s by Elmore Leonard","description":"\u003ch2 data-start=\"46\" data-end=\"102\" class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\"\u003eFour Classic Crime Stories in One Timeless Collection\u003cspan aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchor\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBrand new but there are some imperfections as shown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"104\" data-end=\"479\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBlending gritty toughness and unpredictable violence with wild humor and an uncanny ear for the rhythms of ordinary speech, Elmore Leonard was the most widely and enthusiastically admired crime novelist of his time. His genius for scene and dialogue led \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTime\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e magazine to describe him as “a Dickens of Detroit,” and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e called him “the best American writer of crime alive, possibly the best we’ve ever had.” Now \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Library of America\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e inaugurates a three-volume edition of Leonard’s greatest work, prepared in consultation with the author shortly before his death and edited by his long-time researcher Gregg Sutter.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLeonard began his career in the 1950s as a writer of pulp westerns, but switched genres at the end of the 1960s and slowly but steadily achieved recognition as a fantastically inventive storyteller and a one-of-a-kind stylist. For all the dazzling complications of his plots—often involving brilliantly elaborate scams, of which he was a master—it was the people who mattered most in his books, people from every walk of life and every social byway.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe four novels collected in this first volume re-invented the American crime novel and cemented Leonard’s reputation. All are set in his hometown Detroit, a hard-working “shot and a beer” kind of place whose lawless underside becomes a stage for an unforgettable cast of rogues, con artists, and psychopaths. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eFifty-Two Pickup\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (1974), fast and sharply written, is an insidiously brutal book about an adulterous businessman who runs afoul of a crew of murderous blackmailers. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSwag\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (1976) finds Leonard moving for the first time into the more comic mode that would become his signature, as he charts the small-time criminal careers of an amiable ex-con and an ambitious car salesman who share a bachelor pad and pursue their hedonistic dream of the good life through a string of armed robberies. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eUnknown Man No. 89\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (1977) spins a complex web of crisscrossing rip-offs and con games, with process server Jack Ryan, a typically laid-back Leonard protagonist, caught in the middle. In \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Switch\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (1978), one of Leonard’s funniest books, Mickey Dawson, a discontented housewife held for ransom, manages to turn the tables on her kidnappers while exacting overdue revenge on her scheming husband.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis volume also contains a newly researched chronology of Elmore Leonard’s life, drawing on materials in his personal archive, and detailed annotations, which include as a special bonus a scene from the typescript for Swag that did not appear in the published book.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Value Junction ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48205521813716,"sku":"TVJ-025391","price":69.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0721\/3059\/2980\/files\/TVJ-025391-1.jpeg?v=1783073405","url":"https:\/\/thevaluejunction.co.nz\/products\/four-novels-of-the-1970s-by-elmore-leonard","provider":"The Value Junction ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}