Elmore Leonard: Pronto (USA 2012)

From the Publisher:
"THE GREATEST CRIME WRITER OF OUR TIME, PERHAPS EVER." -- NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
The feds want Miami bookmaker Harry Arno to squeal on his wiseguy boss. So they're putting word out on the street that Arno's skimming profits from "Jimmy Cap" Capotorto -- which he is, but everybody does it. Harry was planning to retire to Italy someday anyway, so he figures now's a good time to get lost. U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens knows Harry's tricky -- the bookie ditched him once in an airport while in the marshal's custody -- but not careful. So Raylan's determined to find the fugitive's Italian hideaway before cold-blooded Sicilian "Zip" whacks Arno just for fun. It's a "pride thing"... and it might even put Raylan in good stead with Harry's sexy ex-stripper girlfriend Joyce.

"Delightful and absorbing... . An expert, rolling read, funny and quirky." -- San Francisco Chronicle
"The man knows how to grab you -- and Pronto is one of the best grabbers in years." -- Entertainment Weekly

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: Pronto. William Morrow Paperbacks, ISBN: 9780062120335 (January, 2012), 386 p., $14.99.

Elmore Leonard: Pronto (USA 2010)

From the Publisher:
The feds want Miami bookmaker Harry Arno to squeal on his wiseguy boss. So they're putting word out on the street that Arno's skimming profits from "Jimmy Cap" Capotorto -- which he is, but everybody does it. He was planning to retire to Italy someday anyway, so Harry figures now's a good time to get lost. U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens knows Harry's tricky -- the bookie ditched him once in an airport while in the marshal's custody -- but not careful. So Raylan's determined to find the fugitive's Italian hideaway before a cold-blooded Sicilian "Zip" does and whacks Arno for fun. After all, it's a "pride thing"... and it might even put Raylan in good stead with Harry's sexy ex-stripper girlfriend Joyce.

Elmore Leonard: Pronto. Harper, ISBN: 9780062020314 (April, 2010), 387 p., $7.99.

Elmore Leonard: Pronto (UK 2008)

From the Publisher:
A tale of taut suspense from 'the best writer in crime fiction today.' -- USA Today.
Harry Arno runs a South Miami Beach gambling operation. To protect his position, he was forced to cut a deal with the local muscle, Jimmy Capotorto (Jumbo Jimmy Cap), an even fifty-fifty split. For years Harry had been padding his own stake by skimming off the top. Now a couple of local detectives - wise to sticky fingers - try to bag Jimmy by putting the squeeze on Harry.

U.S. Marshalls deliver Harry to court to testify at Jimmy's trial. Even though he's a step slower than he used to be, Harry's no fool - he slips out of the country pronto.

With Jimmy Cap's men following and the Feds close behind, the three sides end up in Italy, watching their own backs while keeping abreast of Harry's. But it's not until the chase leads back to Miami that the real winners and losers are revealed...

Elmore Leonard: Pronto. Phoenix, ISBN: 9780753822401 (September, 2008), 225 p., £7.99.

Elmore Leonard: Pronto (USA 2002)

From the Publisher:
THE GREATEST CRIME WRITER OF OUR TIME, PERHAPS EVER." -- New York Times Book Review
The feds want Miami bookmaker Harry Arno to squeal on his wiseguy boss. So they're putting word out on the street that Arno's skimming profits from "Jimmy Cap" Capotorto -- which he is, but everybody does it. He was planning to retire to Italy someday anyway, so Harry figures now's a good time to get lost. U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens knows Harry's tricky -- the bookie ditched him once in an airport while in the marshal's custody -- but not careful. So Raylan's determined to find the fugitive's Italian hideaway before a cold-blooded Sicilian "Zip" does and whacks Arno for fun. After all, it's a "pride thing"... and it might even put Raylan in good stead with Harry's sexy ex-stripper girlfriend Joyce.

"The man knows how to grab you -- and Pronto is one of the best grabbers in years." -- Entertainment Weekly

Elmore Leonard: Pronto. Harpertorch, ISBN: 0060082178 (June, 2002), 389 p., $7.50.

Elmore Leonard: Pronto (USA 1995)

From the Publisher:
"FROM SLY TITLE THROUGH BREATH-STOPPING CLIMAX TO FUNNY WRAP-UP, READERS WILL RELISH LEONARD'S LATEST ROLLER COASTER RIDE... THE ONLY PROBLEM WITH THE BOOK IS THAT IT ENDS." -- Publishers Weekly

Well-known South Miami Beach bookie Harry Arno was grossing seven thousand a week running sports bets. He split fifty-fifty with local wiseguy Jimmy Capotorto, aka Jimmy Cap, but by skimming off the top for twenty years, Harry had stashed away enough to retire. Everything was set for his name-change and vanishing act to the Italian Riviera with his girlfriend, Joyce (joy, when she was a topless dancer), right after the Super Bowl. Harry Arno felt like a lucky man.

"THE MAN KNOWS HOW TO GRAB YOU -- AND PRONTO IS ONE OF HIS BEST GRABBERS IN YEARS." -- Entertainment Weekly

He felt wrong. An FBI assault on organized crime had targeted Jimmy Cap, and Harry was set up as the fall guy to help them do it. Now "Zip," a Sicilian in a classic black suit, had a reason to want Harry dead. Raylan Givens, a Stetson-wearing U.S. marshal, had the job of keeping him alive. And from Miami to Rapallo, Italy, Harry Arno had plans of his own to clean up the past, guarantee his future... and let drawling Raylan Givens go one-on-one across two continents with the mob.

"THE WRITING IS CRISP. THE DIALOGUE IS VINTAGE ELMORE... THIS IS LEONARD'S FINEST NOVEL SINCE GLITZ." -- People

A SELECTION OF THE BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB

Elmore Leonard: Pronto. Dell Publishing, ISBN: 0440214432 (January, 1995), 373 p., $5.99.

Elmore Leonard: Pronto (UK 1994)

From the Publisher:
Harry Arno thought he was pretty hip for a 68-year-old. He jogged, dated a woman twenty-five years his junior, and knew Vanilla Ice was a white guy. He also ran a gambling operation out of Miami Beach for another senior citizen named Jimmy Capotorto. Life was sweet.

But when he heard from a friendly cop that the FBI had started a rumour that he was skimming on Jimmy Cap, he knew it was time to put his long-prepared retirement plan into action.

'The American crime master moves to Italy and stays on top of his form in a cracking tale of small-time criminals' -- Independent
'Still the King' -- Time Out
'Book by book... Elmore Leonard is painting an intimate, precise, funny, frightening, and irresistible mural of the American underworld' -- New Yorker
'Elmore Leonard keeps you holding your breath as usual, and your heart pounding' -- Alec Guinness

Elmore Leonard: Pronto. Penguin, ISBN: 0140175717 (November, 1994), 265 p., £4.99.

Elmore Leonard: Pronto (USA 1993)

From the Publisher:
Try rounding up the usual suspects and you'll find it can't be done in an Elmore Leonard novel. Pronto is no exception. Here a fascinating array of colorful characters discovers that the Atlantic can't separate the good guys from the bad when a bookie, a U.S. marshal, and a trio of thugs from Miami's underworld pay a visit to Rapallo, on the Italian Riviera.

For twenty years Harry Arno has operated a sports book in Miami Beach, taking bets on all the pro games. And for twenty years Harry has been skimming the profits, shortchanging his silent partners, the local wiseguys. Harry is ready to retire to a villa on the Italian Riviera with his girlfriend, Joyce -- maybe even marry her -- when he becomes the fall guy in an FBI assault on organized crime and has to run for his life.

A U.S. marshal named Raylan Givens happens to know what Harry did in Italy in '45, during the war, and why it draws Harry to return, so Raylan takes off after the bookmaker to bring him back. Years before, on their way to a grand jury hearing, Harry ducked out and Raylan looked downright dumb. It would seem he's not going to let it happen again. Or is it that he follows Harry to protect him from the Zip, a gangster in the classic style who has his own reason to see Harry dead? Pronto takes you to Italy, where it reaches a high in suspense, then returns to Miami Beach for the big finish.

With razor-sharp wit, crackling suspense, and some of the most authentic dialogue in contemporary fiction, Pronto is Elmore Leonard at his astonishing best. The unrivaled master at awakening the sights, smells, and sounds of the colorful worlds he so flawlessly portrays, Leonard has once again created "an intimate, precise, funny, frightening, and irresistible mural of the American underworld." (The New Yorker)

ELMORE LEONARD has written thirty-one novels, including such best sellers as Rum Punch, Maximum Bob, and Get Shorty. Many of his books have been made into movies and he has written numerous screenplays. He lives in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

"The best writer in crime fiction today." -- USA Today
"Elmore Leonard grabs you and doesn't let go. He delights you, he makes you see." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Elmore Leonard is the real thing... He raises the hard-boiled suspense novel beyond the limits of the genre." -- The Washington Post
"I pounce on every new Elmore Leonard thriller with enthusiasm, although I know I am going to miss a heartbeat or two, which is bad for my blood pressure." -- Alec Guinness
"Our greatest crime novelist." -- The Washington Post Book World
"Stylishly, and in a manner all of his own, [Leonard] gives us the best the genre has to offer: crackling dialogue, intricate plots that have an air of inevitability about them, characters as vivid as those in your most recent nightmare." -- Newsweek

Elmore Leonard: Pronto. Delacorte Press, ISBN: 0385308469 (September, 1993), 265 p., $21.95.