The Tonto Woman And Other Western Stories

From a forbidden glance on a Miami night to a killer's slow burn on a Detroit street, no one mixes passion, scheming, and violence better than Elmore Leonard. But before he did it in Miami Beach or Motor City, Elmore Leonard did it on the American frontier. This raw, hard-bitten collection gathers together the best of Leonard's Western fiction. In stories that burn with passion, treachery, and heroism, the American frontier comes vividly, magnificently to life. In "Only Good Ones," we meet a fine man turned killer in one impossible moment . . . "Saint with a Six-Gun" pits a doomed prisoner against his young guard--in a drama of deception and compassion that leads to a shocking act of courage . . . and in "The Colonel's Lady," a brutal ambush puts a woman into the hands of a vicious renegade--while a tracker attempts a rescue that cannot come in time. Etching a harsh, haunting landscape with razor-sharp prose, Elmore Leonard shows in nineteen brilliant stories why he has become the American poet laureate of the desperate and the bold.

The New York Times-bestselling Grand Master of suspense deftly displays the other side of his genius, with seven classic western tales of destiny and fatal decision . . . and trust as essential to survival as it is hard-earned. Trust was rare and precious in the wide-open towns that sprung up like weeds on America's frontier—with hustlers and hucksters arriving in droves by horse, coach, wagon, and rail, and gunmen working both sides of the law, all too eager to end a man's life with a well-placed bullet. In these classic tales that span more than five decades—including the first story he ever published, “The Trail of the Apache”—Elmore Leonard once again demonstrates the superb talent for language and gripping narrative that have made him one of the most acclaimed and influential writers of our time.

The unrivaled master of crime’s first collection of noir stories. . . . “If you thought you knew all the places Elmore Leonard could take you, think again.”—Mike Lupica In more than 30 books spanning half a century, Elmore Leonard has captured the imagination of millions as few writers can. A literary icon praised by the New York Times Book Review as “the greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever, ” he has influenced many contemporary writers and is known for both the quality and accessibility of his writing. In this first collection of short pieces, including two novella-length works, since his western anthology Tonto Woman, Leonard demonstrates the superb characterization, dead-on dialogue, vivid atmosphere, and driving plotting that have made him a household name.

“The greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever!” —New York Times Book Review When the all-time greats of mystery/noir/crime fiction are mentioned (John D. MacDonald, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, Robert Parker, etc.), Elmore Leonard’s name invariably tops the list. A true Leonard classic, The Big Bounce showcases all of the Grand Master’s acclaimed skills—twisty plotting, unforgettable characters, dialogue so razor sharp it could draw blood—as he chronicles the misadventures of a larcenous young man in a Michigan resort town who’s irresistibly drawn to a dangerous femme fatale, a rich man’s plaything, and the nasty little caper they plan to pull off together—if they can somehow manage to survive each other. The acclaimed creator of Raylan (aka U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, lately of TV’s smash hit Justified), Leonard has never lost the mojo that makes him “the King Daddy of crime writers” (Seattle Times).

The old Apache renegade Soldado Viejo is hiding out in Mexico, and the Arizona Department Adjutant has selected two men to hunt him down. One -- Dave Flynn -- knows war, the land, and the nature of his prey. The other is a kid lieutenant named Bowers. But there's a different kind of war happening in Soyopa. And if Flynn and his young associate choose the wrong allies -- and the wrong enemy -- they won't be getting out alive.

The undisputed master of the crime novel strikes again with this powerfully entertaining story, set in 1920s Oklahoma, that introduces one of the toughest lawmen ever to come out of the west. . . . Carlos Webster was 15 the day he witnessed his first murder—but it wouldn’t be his last. It was also his first introduction to the notorious gunman, Emmet Long. By the time Carlos is 20, he’s being sworn in as a deputy United States marshal and now goes by the name Carl. As for Emmet, he’s robbing banks with his new partner, the no-good son of an oil millionaire. Carl Webster and Emmet Long may be on opposite sides of the law but their long-time game of cat and mouse will turn them both into two of the most famous names in crime and punishment.

The hell called Yuma Prison can destroy the soul of any man. And it's worse for those whose damning crime is the color of their skin. The law says Chiricahua Apache Raymond San Carlos and black-as-night former soldier Harold Jackson are murderers, and they'll stay behind bars until they're dead and rotting. But even in the worst place on Earth, there's hope. And for two hard and hated inmates -- first enemies, then allies by necessity -- it waits at the end of a mad and violent contest ... on a bloody trail that winds toward Arizona's five most dangerous men.

Weaves characters, themes and language in 22 linked stories that evoke the complex density of life in and around the Spokane Indian Reservation. The author is one of Granta's 20 Best Young American Writers.

From the bestselling author of Tracks: A travel writer’s memoir of her year with the nomadic Rabari tribe on the border between Pakistan and India. India’s Thar Desert has been the home of the Rabari herders for thousands of years. In 1990, Australian Robyn Davidson, “as natural a travel writer as she is an adventurer,” spent a year with the Rabari, whose livelihood is increasingly endangered by India’s rapid development (The New Yorker). Enduring the daily hardships of life in the desert while immersed in the austere beauty of the arid landscape, Davidson subsisted on a diet of goat milk, roti, and parasite-infested water. She collided with India’s rigid caste system and cultural idiosyncrasies, confronted extreme sleep deprivation, and fought feelings of alienation amid the nation’s isolated rural peoples—finding both intense suffering and a renewed sense of beauty and belonging among the Rabari family. Rich with detail and honest in its depictions of cultural differences, Desert Places is an unforgettable story of fortitude in the face of struggle and an ode to the rapidly disappearing way of life of the herders of northwestern India. “Davidson will both disturb and exhilarate readers with the acuity of her observations, the sting of her wit, and the candor of her emotions” (Booklist).