Elmore Leonard: City Primeval (UK 2025)

From the Publisher:
Clement Mansell knows how easy it is to get away with murder. The crazed killer is back on the Detroit streets - thanks to some nifty courtroom moves by his lawyer - and this time he's feeling invincible enough to execute a crooked Motown judge. Homicide Detective Raymond Cruz thinks the 'Oklahoma Wildman' crossed the line long before this latest outrage, and he's determined to see that the psycho does not slip through the legal system's loopholes a second time. But that means a good cop is going to have to play somewhat fast and loose with the rules - in order to manoeuvre Mansell into a showdown that he won't be walking away from.

Elmore Leonard: City Primeval. Penguin Modern Classics, ISBN: 9780241755334 (October, 2025), 256 p., £10.99, eBook £5.99.

Elmore Leonard: City Primeval (USA 2012)

From the Publisher:
"THE BEST WRITER OF CRIME FICTION TODAY." -- USA TODAY
Clement Mansell knows how easy it is to get away with murder. The cool killer is already back on the Detroit scene -- thanks to some nifty courtroom moves by his lawyer -- and he's feeling invincible enough to execute a crooked judge on a whim. Lieutenant Raymond Cruz thinks the "Oklahoma Wildman" crossed the line long before this latest outrage, and he's determined to see that the hayseed psycho meets an end he deserves, with a gun pointed at him. But that means a good cop, having to play somewhat fast and loose with the rules... in order to maneuver Mansell into a wild Midwest showdown that he can't walk away from.

"As gritty and hard-driving a thriller as you'll find... . The action never stops, the language sings and stings." -- Washington Post
"Elmore Leonard is the Alexander the Great of crime fiction." -- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

ELMORE LEONARD has written more than forty books during his highly successful writing career, and many of his novels have been made into movies. Leonard is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN USA and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He lives in Bloomfield Village, Michigan.

Elmore Leonard: City Primeval. High Noon in Detroit. A Novel. William Morrow Paperbacks, ISBN: 9780062191359 (April, 2012), 352 p., $14.99.

Elmore Leonard: City Primeval (UK 2005)

From the Publisher:
Classic Elmore Leonard - a killer is on the loose in a gripping thriller set in Detroit.
Clement Mansell knows how easy it is to get away with murder. The crazed killer is back on the Detroit streets - thanks to some nifty courtroom moves by his lawyer - and this time he's feeling invincible enough to execute a crooked Motown judge. Homicide Detective Raymond Cruz thinks the 'Oklahoma Wildman' crossed the line long before this latest outrage, and he's determined to see that the psycho does not slip through the legal system's loopholes a second time. But that means a good cop is going to have to play somewhat fast and loose with the rules - in order to manoeuvre Mansell into a showdown that he won't be walking away from.

Elmore Leonard: City Primeval. Pheonix, ISBN: 0753819678 (March, 2005), 225 p., £6.99.

Elmore Leonard: City Primeval (USA 2001)

From the Publisher:
"THE CRIME WRITER'S CRIME WRITER." -- Chicago Tribune
Clement Mansell knows how easy it is to get away with murder. The seriously crazed killer is already back on the Detroit streets -- thanks to some nifty courtroom moves by his crafty looker of a lawyer -- and he's feeling invincible enough to execute a crooked Motown judge on a whim. Homicide Detective Raymond Cruz thinks the "Oklahoma Wildman" crossed the line long before this latest outrage, and he's determined to see that the hayseed psycho does not slip through the legal system's loopholes a second time. But that means a good cop is going to have to play somewhat fast and loose with the rules -- in order to maneuver Mansell into a wild Midwest showdown that he won't be walking away from.

"As gritty and hard-driving a thriller as you'll find... The action never stops, the language sings and stings." -- Washington Post Book World

Elmore Leonard: City Primeval. High Noon in Detroit. HarperTorch, ISBN: 006008958X (October, 2001), 352 p., $7.50.

Elmore Leonard: City Primeval (USA 1999)

From the Publisher:
"One can hardly turn the pages fast enough." -- Miami Herald
"Lean, fast-moving... his best book yet... it rivets the reader." -- Monthly Detroit
"An entertainer of enormous finesse who can write circles around almost anyone." -- The New York Times Book Review
"Possessive, commanding... Leonard is the real thing. He raises the hard-boiled suspense novel beyond the limits of the genre... He does honest work, and reading it is a great pleasure." -- The Washington Post Book World
"First rate... truly tough... excitement from the beginning." -- Library Journal

City Primeval is classic Elmore Leonard: an erratic killer, a city going about its business, and suspense that won't quit. Ride down Woodward Avenue into the Motor City, toward a deadly showdown between dedicated homicide detective Raymond Cruz and a psychopathic murderer, "Oklahoma Wildman" Clement Mansell, who picked the wrong town in which to kill someone, even if it was only a crooked judge.

ELMORE LEONARD has written thirty-four novels, including Cuba Libre, Rum Punch, Get Shorty, Freaky Deaky, and Glitz, and numerous screenplays. He has an unparalleled reputation among lovers of mayhem, suspense, and just plain wonderful writing. Winner of a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America, he has been likened to everyone from Dostoevsky to Dickens to Dashiell Hammett -- but he is, in fact, entirely and entertainingly unique. He lives in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Elmore Leonard: City Primeval. High Noon in Detroit. Quill, ISBN: 0688169708 (July, 1999), 275 p., $12.00.

Elmore Leonard: City Primeval (USA 1980)

From the Publisher:
In this superbly authentic, highly original novel of crime and retribution, an angry cop waits and wonders, knowing only that he will surprise himself when he runs out of patience for a killer with a maddening knack for playing an ice-cold Clyde to a most unsentimental Bonnie. Stalking, bargaining, dogged by memories of past pyramids of evidence smashed to bits by a judge's gavel, thwarted by a cool and beautiful lawyer whose defence of the killer may be her own deathkneel, itching now to take not just the law but the lawbreaker into his own hands, the man of the law begins to see himself--in the streets, behind his gun and badge--sure enough facing an astonishing, unacceptable showdown.

"Leonard is a very good writer; he manages to get into his characters and build a believable situation... He has a wonderful ear, and his dialogue never has a false note... An entertainer of enormous finesse who can write circles around almost anyone active in the crime novel today." -- The New York Times Book Review«

Elmore Leonard: City Primeval. High Noon in Detroit. Arbor House, ISBN: 0877952825 (September, 1980), 275 p., $10.95.