“She could be a Miss Nevada but would rather play poker…”
–Raylan Givens
Elmore Leonard died in 2013. Raylan counts as Leonard’s last novel. U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens first appeared in Leonard’s books Pronto (1993) and Riding the Gap (1995). In 2001, Leonard wrote about Raylan Givens’ early days in Harlan, Kentucky, in a story called “Fire in the Hole” that first appeared in his collection of stories published in 2002 called When The Women Come Out To Dance.
Leonard wrote in “The History of Raylan” how the character would take on a new life: “In 2009, I got a script from Sony called ‘Untitled Elmore Leonard Project.’ It was a pilot for a television series based on Raylan and “Fire in the Hole”. The show, Justified, premiered in 2010 and has been picked up for a fourth season. I love the show. Timothy Olyphant, who plays Raylan, is exactly right for the role.
“When I visited the set of Justified in Santa Clarita, California, in November of 2009, Graham Yost, the show creator, and Timothy Olyphant, the star, asked me to write more Raylan stories. I figured it was the least I could do. My original intention was to write only one Raylan story, but I was having so much fun that I just kept going and ended up writing my forty-fifth novel, titled–what else?–Raylan.”
For good reason, Elmore Leonard was called the “Dickens of Detroit”. Any reader unfamiliar with Elmore Leonard it behooves them to explore his work. Personal favorites include 52 Pickup, Cat Chaser, Swag, Tishomingo Blues, Freaky Deaky, Touch, Glitz, and Rum Punch. Leonard worked on Hollywood scripts for years. Films such as 3:10 To Yuma, Joe Kidd, Jackie Brown, Killshot, Get Shorty and Be Cool were all adapted from Leonard novels.
In Raylan, Leonard puts lawman Raylan Givens in the middle of drug dealing, body part harvesting, high-stakes gambling and murder where every character is one degree away from the black market. Since it’s Leonard’s final novel Raylan holds deep significance. In fact, for those unfamiliar with Elmore Leonard Raylan may be a fine place to start. You can’t go wrong reading any Elmore Leonard book…
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Elmore Leonard’s When The Women Come Out To Dance