Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard
C.M. Kushins
Mariner Books (June 2025)

A comprehensive exploration of the multiple lives of the “Dickens of Detroit”

Elmore Leonard is one of my favorite authors but this is the first biography of him that I have read. Long ago, I concluded that the best way to appreciate a great author’s talents as a storyteller is to read one or more of their works. I suggest these for your consideration because I think they represent Leonard at his best. They are listed in alpha order:

Cat Chaser (1982)
Glitz (1985)
Stick (1985)
Freaky Deaky (1988)
Killshot (1989)
Get Shorty (1990)
LaBrava (2009)

I also suggest that the best way to understand a great author’s life is to read a biography of comparable literary value.  That is especially true of Cooler Than Cool. Kushins has created a wide, deep, and multi-dimensional context within which he explores Leonard’s several lives (husband, father, and friend as well as advertising executive and then bestselling author. He published 45 novels and at least that many novels and short stories.  A number oƒ films are based on his work. They include 3:10 to Yuma, Hombre, Valdez Is Coming, Mr. Majestyk, Out of Sight, Joe Kidd, Get Shorty, and  Jackie Brown based on Rum Punch.

It might be helpful to share comments by three of the countless authors who thought highly of Leonard’s work. First, Martin Amis on a recurrent Leonard character: “Raylan [Givens] is perhaps the cleanest character, dead straight and ‘all business,’ Raylan isn’t postmodern — he is an anachronism from out of town. And he is fascinating, because he shows you what Mr. Leonard  actually holds dear — the values he can summon in a different kind of prose, in different American rhythms, those of Robert Frost, or even Mark Twain.”

Next, Stephen King discusses a specific work: “You can put Glitz on the same shelf with your John D. MacDonalds, your Raymond Chandlers, your Dashiell Hammetts.  In it, Mr. Leonard moves from low comedy to high action to a couple of surprisingly tender love scenes with a pro’s unobtrusive ease and the impeccable rhythms of a born entertainer.

“Time magazine has  called Mr. Leonard a ‘Dickens from Detroit.’ I haven’t read enough of him yet (give me a month or so) to agree, but his wit, his range of effective character portrayal and his almost eerily exact ear and nuances of dialogue suggest Dickens to me. Although it’s only February, I’ll venture a guess — Glitz may be the best crime novel of he year.”

“Even if it’s not, I’m sorry it took me so long to catch up to Mr. Leonard.”

NOTE: It would be inaccurate as well as unfair to limit his expertise to one subject area. Indeed, some of his best works are Westerns. My point is, Leonard is a consummate storyteller, whatever, wherever, and whenever the narrative elements may be.

And then Anthony Lane: “His genius is twofold; he is unrivalled not only as a listener but as a nerveless transcriber of what he hears. No stenographer in a court of law could be more accurate. His people open their mouths, and we know at once, within a paragraph, or even a clause, who dreamed them up.”

And finally, John D. MacDonald, in his review of Road Dogs: “Like all good advice, his hook ultimately tells us what we already know. The world may be a cosmic joke, but that doesn’t mean it’ß without meaningful pleasures. A good hot shower, a new white T-shirt,  rib-eye steak, a fifth of Jack Daniels –,these are things for which one should be profoundly grateful. And if this seems too easy, just think that thinking took much can fxxx you up.”

As I began to read his work for the first time, I was immediately impressed by a fast-moving ambiguous plot, colorful characters coping with all manner of threats and insecurities, immersed in endless distractions and uncertainties.  Elmore Leonard’s works are not ƒor everyone. Those who read Cooler Than Cool will probably be more inclined to check him out for the first time. I am among those who eagerly re-read what we especially enjoyed and appreciated the first time.