Synopses & Reviews
“A wild ride through Cuba during the Spanish-American War.”
—
Miami Herald“Not only his finest novel but one that transcends the limits of its genre and is worthy of being evaluated as literary fiction.”
—Houston Chronicle
Before Grand Master Elmore Leonard earned his well-deserved reputation as “the best writer of crime fiction alive” (Newsweek), he penned some of the finest western fiction to ever appear in print. (The classics Hombre, Valdez is Coming, and 3:10 to Yuma were just a few of his notable works.) With his extraordinary Cuba Libre, Leonard ingeniously combines all of his many talents and delivers a historical adventure/caper/western/noir like none other. The creator of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, star of Raylan, Pronto, Riding the Rap, and TVs Justified, spins a gloriously exciting yarn about an American horse wrangler who escapes a date with a Cuban firing squad to join forces with a powerful sugar barons lady looking to make waves and score big in and around Spanish-American War-torn Havana in 1898. Everything you love about Leonards fiction—and more—is evident in Cuba Libre. No wonder the New York Times Book Review enthusiastically declared him “a literary genius.”
Review
“The greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever!” The New York Times Book Review
Review
“An absolute master.” The Detroit News
Synopsis
A wild ride through Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Miami Herald
Not only his finest novel but one that transcends the limits of its genre and is worthy of being evaluated as literary fiction. Houston Chronicle
Before Grand Master Elmore Leonard earned his well-deserved reputation as the best writer of crime fiction alive (Newsweek), he penned some of the finest western fiction to ever appear in print. (The classics Hombre, Valdez is Coming, and 3:10 to Yuma were just a few of his notable works.) With his extraordinary Cuba Libre, Leonard ingeniously combines all of his many talents and delivers a historical adventure/caper/western/noir like none other. The creator of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, star of Raylan, Pronto, Riding the Rap, and TV s Justified, spins a gloriously exciting yarn about an American horse wrangler who escapes a date with a Cuban firing squad to join forces with a powerful sugar baron s lady looking to make waves and score big in and around Spanish-American War-torn Havana in 1898. Everything you love about Leonard s fiction and more is evident in Cuba Libre. No wonder the New York Times Book Review enthusiastically declared him a literary genius. "
Synopsis
Sailing mares and guns into Havana harbor in 1898—right past the submerged wreckage of the U.S. battleship Maine—isn't the smartest thing recently prison-sprung horse wrangler Ben Tyler ever did. Neither is shooting one of the local Guardia, though the pompous peacock deserved it. Now Tyler's sitting tight in a vermin-infested Cuban stockade waiting to face a firing squad. But he's not dying until he gets the money he's owed from a two-timing American sugar baron. And there's one smart, pistol-hot lady at the rich man's side who could help Tyler get everything he's got rightfully coming . . . even when the whole damn island's going straight to Hell.
About the Author
Elmore Leonard wrote forty-five novels and nearly as many western and crime short stories across his highly successful career that spanned more than six decades. Some of his bestsellers include Road Dogs, Up in Honeys Room, The Hot Kid, Mr. Paradise, Tishomingo Blues, and the critically acclaimed collection of short stories Fire in the Hole. Many of his books have been made into movies, including Get Shorty, Out of Sight, and Rum Punch, which became Quentin Tarantinos Jackie Brown. Justified, the hit series from FX, is based on Leonards character Raylan Givens, who appears in Riding the Rap, Pronto, Raylan and the short story “Fire in the Hole”. He was a recipient of the National Book Foundations Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN USA, and the Grand Master Award of the Mystery Writers of America. He was known to many as the ‘Dickens of Detroit and was a long-time resident of the Detroit area.