Last but not least in the favorite author series: Elmore Leonard.
Elmore Leonard is the extraordinarily prolific (he would never use those words) crime writer with possibly the best dialogue in town. In his famous essay for writers he said, “Don’t write the part people don’t read.” You won’t find pages of descriptive detail in a Leonard novel, but you will find characters that may be mostly bad or mostly good, but never black and white. Funny, quirky, mean, complex, relatable.
You may know him for his many screen adaptations which include: 3:10 to Yuma, Mr. Majestyk, Justified (from Leonard short story “Fire in the Hole,”) Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, and who knows how many others.
Leonard has passed on, sadly, so his best work can seem dated, you know, pay phones, big cars from Detroit, that kind of thing. But never fear, they’re still great reads.
Newbies should read Get Shorty or Out of Sight.