1,001 Novels: A Library of America
Rum Punch (1992)
by Elmore Leonard
Miami, Florida
Florida: 21/21
I've long been interested in Elmore Leonard as an example of an author who writes genre books which maybe transcend genre. I think the standard is wait for the death of the author, give it 20 years, and see if anyone is still reading or writing about said author. By any standard, Elmore Leonard has achieved canonical status, whether you are measuring by his four Library of American volumes, including an entire volume dedicated to his western era, or the activity on his Amazon author page.
After that, the question is, which works best represent the author- pick an early work, a mid-career work and a late career work. With Leonard, I think the early career pick is Mr. Majestyk (1974) which is an early example of his crime fiction and takes place in Detroit, not Florida or California. It also leaves out his whole western career which spans 1954 to 1970. Mid-career and late career kind of blend together with Leonard- he continued publishing until 2012 but you'd be hard pressed to pick anything after Out of Sight (1996). You've also got Get Shorty, Maximum Bob and this book- all of which were hits, well reviewed and got memorable movie/tv versions (Jackie Brown for Rum Punch.)
I would probably go with this book over Get Shorty because of the "inside-Hollywood" angle of that book. You want an Elmore Leonard Florida title on the short-list. Rum Punch is a good pick because Jackie Brown, the weary stewardess at the center of the familiar double-cross heavy Leonard plot, is as memorable a heroine as you are going to get. As for the rest: guns, drugs, murder- you know the drill.
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