Elmore Leonard: Comfort To The Enemy (USA 2010)

From the Publisher:
"AN EXCELLENT READ. THE ZING OF LEONARD'S PROSE, THE EASE WITH WHICH HIS CHARACTERS COME TO LIFE, AND THE MORAL QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE 1940S SETTING... ARE CONCRETE EVIDENCE OF A MASTER CRIME WRITER STILL AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME." -- RUSSEL McLEAN, AUTHOR OF THE GOOD SON

The "Hot Kid" of the U.S. Marshals Service, Carl Webster maintains the law with a cool, showdown attitude. He's one of the richest creations in Elmore Leonard's half century of delivering the goods. From his appearances in the critically acclaimed novels The Hot Kid and Up in Honey's Room, Carl returns to lay down the law in a novella that originally appeared as a serial in the New York Times Sunday Magazine.

The title novella -- plus two Carl Webster short stories -- traces Carl's career from his run-in with 1930s gangsters to his investigation of a murder at a German POW camp in Oklahoma. This time it's Carl against war-seasoned Afrika Korps Nazis. With its pitch-perfect dialogue, compelling characters, and classic charm, Comfort to the Enemy is vintage Leonard.

"The reigning King Daddy of crime writers." -- Seattle Times
See Inside for an Exclusive Look at Leonard's New Novel, Djibouti.

ELMORE LEONARD has written more than forty books during his highly successful career, many of which have been made into movies. He has been named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. Leonard lives with his wife, Christine, in Bloomfield Village, Michigan.

Elmore Leonard: Comfort To The Enemy. And Other Carl Webster Stories. Harper Paperbacks, ISBN: 9780061735158 (October, 2010), 197 p., $14.99.

Elmore Leonard: Comfort To The Enemy (UK 2010)

From the Publisher:
A novella and short stories featuring legendary lawman Carl Webster - star of The Hot Kid.
Oklahoma in the 1940s: war has reached the American heartland. Back from a tour of duty in the Pacific, US Marshal Carl Webster is investigating crime inside stateside POW camps when the murder of a prisoner gives him his biggest case yet. His investigation leads him to a rodeo bullrider turned law enforcer, to a Jewish gangster bent on revenge for the Holocaust, and to befriend a former Nazi guard and persistent runaway.

Carl becomes embroiled in a tale of gangsters' molls, enemy lines, espionage, double-crossing and a lover's wartime promise that could lead to more trouble than he ever imagined...

'Not for nothing do they call him the king of crime' -- Herald

Elmore Leonard: Comfort To The Enemy. Phoenix, ISBN: 9780753826652 (April, 2010), 182 p., £7.99.

Elmore Leonard: Comfort To The Enemy (UK 2009)

From the Publisher:
This is a dazzling collection of three Elmore Leonard stories, of which the third and title story, 'Comfort to the Enemy', is a novella. The stories chart the beginning, middle and mature years of legendary lawman Carl Webster's career.

'Comfort to the Enemy' begins with the investigation of a murder at a German POW camp in Oklahoma. The bank robbers of the 1920s are gone. Carl has married Louly, who has joined the Marines, and he has also done a tour of duty. Oklahoma is full of POW camps with crewmen and grenadiers from the Afrika Korps. Jurgen Schrenk is a young captain who escapes with some frequency, a man well-liked by many of the native Oklahomans. He's fallen in love with a girl by the name of Shemane, a sexy beauty and gangster's moll who lives at home with her mother. Jurgen makes a successful escape with the help of Shemane, and Carl promises he'll help the lovers at the end of the war. But Jurgen may be a spy, and Carl may have to pursue him to Detroit, a place where Jurgen has lived and where arms are being manufactured.

With excellent dialogue, grippingly credible characters, and the glamour of sex and bad reputation, Comfort to the Enemy shows Elmore Leonard at the very top of his game.

Elmore Leonard: Comfort To The Enemy. And Other Carl Webster Tales. Showdown at Checotah -- Louly and Pretty Boy -- Comfort to the Enemy. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN: 9780297856689 (April, 2009), 182 p., £18.99.