Elmore Leonard, the witty crime novelist who was “incapable of writing an uninteresting sentence,” has died at age 87.
His death was reported on his website and on Facebook by his longtime researcher, Gregg Sutter. Elmore Leonard had suffered a stroke on July 29th; Sutter said at the time that the family was “cautiously optimistic,” but Leonard died this morning at 7:15 am Eastern time at his home in Bloomfield Village, near Detroit.
Who2’s love for Elmore Leonard is well known. We also salute him for writing the book that became the underrated movie romance Out of Sight, with George Clooney as Jack Foley, a typical (if unusually lovable) Leonard anti-hero.
Elmore Leonard once told Esquire that his writing improved after he stopped drinking “on January 24, 1977, at 9:30 am.” He also added this sage bit of advice: “A line of dialogue is not clear enough if you need to explain how it’s said.”
Sorry to see him go.