Just a tiny snippet of a hint of a new Elmore Leonard makes me very happy.

There is a book called GUNSIGHTS.  It came out in 1979.  There is a story called “Hurrah For Capt. Early” which came out in 1994.

Both feature the town of Sweetmary and were written by Elmore Leonard.

The rumors are true.

We are getting a western.

Thank you. 

Your birthday was last week and we get a gift.

I have read both Gunsights and Hurah for Capt Early but must say I missed the link when I saw the title of the new book on the site, western or otherwise, its a new Elmore Leonard novel so we win anyway.

HOMBRE also took place in Sweetmary. 

A new Elmore Leonard western!

here is a book called GUNSIGHTS.  It came out in 1979.  There is a story called “Hurrah For Capt. Early” which came out in 1994.

Both feature the town of Sweetmary and were written by Elmore Leonard.

HOMBRE also took place in Sweetmary.

You forgot Cuba Libre, son.

The rumors are true.

We are getting a western.

Sure.

when I saw the title of the new book on the site, western or otherwise, its a new Elmore Leonard novel so we win anyway.

Not so sure.

There better damn well be a Frank in it.

CUBA LIBRE is a fantastic read. 

A few touchstones . . .

There better damn well be a Frank in it.

Working on it…

I had the great honour to interview Mr. Leonard at the Crossing Border Festival in The Hague. One of the questions I asked him was whether Sweetmary was going to be a Western.
I fear I’m going to dissapoint some readers who’d love to see another: Sweetmary is not going to be one.

Mr. Leonard told me he was still very early in his writing, but that Sweetmary will be about a private detention center located where the town Sweetmary used to be. The owners are mostly concerned about making money, not with taking care of prisoners. One of the characters is an actress which plays a vampire in movies. (No Twilight figure, one which catches flies with her tongue!)

So no western, but it still sounds like a pretty good novel to me!

Elmore was just putting you on.  He failed to mention the time travel element in Sweetmary.

Haha, that was my thought when I heard that last part. Then again, Mr. Leonard has created quite a list of colorfull characters.  The part about the private detention center sounded real enough though.

From the Wall Street Journal:

What are you working on now?

“Right now I’m writing a story called “Sweetmary.” Sweetmary is a private prison in Arizona. The immigration and customs enforcement use the prison. They’ll arrest people and just throw them in prison and let them wait. The main character is a guy who had been a champion bull rider. His girlfriend is an actress who makes vampire movies. He was spending so much time with bulls that she had to leave.”

Champion bull rider? Hmm. Ben Webster?

Not a western?

Well, either Elmore is putting on every single one of his readers, or - yeah, no Western…
Sutter?

I just heard more Sweetmary news from the man.  Mr. Leonard was doing a signing at Skylight Books in LA and said that the story is moving to Palm Springs. 

Palm Springs is a perfect setting for an Elmore Leonard book.

By the way, he couldn’t have been more charming to my daughter (8).  He talked to her for about five minutes and signed a copy of his rules for her.  He also signed a copy of THE HOT KID for my son (18) who is studying at UC-Santa Barbara.  He is taking a detective fiction class that has UNKNOWN MAN #89 as required reading.

Robb - 17 January 2012 04:26 PM

I just heard more Sweetmary news from the man.  Mr. Leonard said that the story is moving to Palm Springs. 

Palm Springs is a perfect setting for an Elmore Leonard book.

You serious?

I love how Elmore is always talking about his next book while promoting the current one. When he was on Charlie Rose’s show back in 2010, he seemed to spend as much time talking about his plans for Djibouti as he did promoting Road Dogs.

Well, so much for Ben Webster being the bull rider….

http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2012/0118/Elmore-Leonard-on-Raylan-and-Justified/(page)/3

“I’m writing a book called “Sweetmary.” Sweetmary is a privately run prison in Arizona. There are three Apache Indian boys who are 20 and one of them is a bull rider and he wins, he stays on three bulls for eight seconds each in the Indian rodeo and wins $4,000. And he and his two friends, who are bull handlers, all go out to celebrate. They’re having a good time drinking tequila and beer-chasers and the guy at the next table is with immigration enforcement.

He takes exception to these boys and they mouth off at him and he throws them in jail. They don’t have identification. He’s the bad guy.

But I want to bring Raylan in. I need Raylan in this one”