Elmore Leonard: Killshot (USA 2011)

From the Publisher:
Ironworker Wayne Colson has come to the real estate office where his wife, Carmen, works at the worst possible time: while Ojibway Indian hit man Armand Degas and loose cannon Richie Nix are there to shake down Carmen's boss. Unable to help himself, Wayne steps into harm's way... and sends the two malefactors out the door bleeding. Now the shooter-for-hire and his ex-con partner are after the Colsons and there's little the state police and local law enforcement can do about it. The best the feds can offer is the Witness Security Program. So it's coming down to just Wayne and Carmen -- and ultimately to Carmen herself -- to deal with two rough-trade misfits with murder on their minds.

Elmore Leonard: Killshot. A Novel. William Morrow Paperbacks, ISBN: 9780062121592 (November, 2011), 271 p., $14.99.

Elmore Leonard: Killshot (UK 2011)

From the Publisher:
The King of Cool returns with another thrilling tale of crime capers.
Arman 'The Blackbird' Degas is a professional hitman: one shot, one kill. But when he's carjacked by ex-con Richie Nix, he finds himself with a lethal partner.

Nix is on his way to shake down a realtor and the Blackbird is along for the ride. But they don't count on Carmen and Wayne Colson getting in their way.

Exposed as eyewitnesses, the Colsons are placed in witness protection but soon discover the program contains as many predators as the underworld they're hiding from. But can they outrun the Blackbird...?

Elmore Leonard: Killshot. Phoenix, ISBN: 9780753827352 (March, 2011), 250 p., £7.99.

Elmore Leonard: Killshot (USA 2008)

From the Publisher:
Ironworker Wayne Colson has come to the real estate office where his wife, Carmen, works -- at the worst possible time for both of them. Armand Degas, an Ojibway Indian hit man, and loose cannon Richie Nix are here to shake down Carmen's boss. And Wayne steps in the way.

He sends the two off bleeding, and now the shooter for hire and Richie the ex-con have sworn to get the Colsons. There's little the state police and local law enforcement can do to help them, and the best the Feds can offer is the Witness Security Program. It comes down to Wayne and Carmen -- and finally Carmen on her surprising own -- to deal with the rough-trade misfits.

Elmore Leonard: Killshot. HarperTorch, ISBN: 0061563862 (March, 2008), 416 p., $7.99.

Elmore Leonard: Killshot (USA 2003)

From the Publisher:
"ELMORE LEONARD TOPS 'EM ALL." -- Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
It's not Carmen Colson and her ironworker husband Wayne's fault that they were in the real estate office when a pair of thugs walked in with extortion on their minds. But as far as aging Ojibway Indian hit man Armand Degas is concerned the Colsons are going to have to pay dearly for seeing too much... and for the damage Wayne inflicted on Armand and his sicko partner Richie Nix with a tire iron. The cops here in middle-of-nowhere Michigan can't help Carmen and Wayne out, and the best the Feds can offer is the Witness Protection Program. So ultimately it's going to have to come down to one wife, one husband, two killers... and one lethal shot.

"Nerve-wracking... The tightest, best-written thriller of the year." -- Seattle Times

Elmore Leonard: Killshot. HarperTorch, ISBN: 0060512245 (February, 2003), 287 p., $7.50.

Elmore Leonard: Killshot (UK 2000)

From the Publisher:
Half Ojibway Indian, half French Canadian, the Blackbird is a professional: one shot, one kill. So when trigger-happy Richie Nix hijacks the Blackbird's Cadillac and takes him for a ride to extort $10,000 from an estate agent, it's unfortunate that a veteran ironworker and his smart wife get in their way. One of the Blackbird's rules is never to leave living witnesses...

"A genuine sense of the dangerous edge of things which induces frenzied page-turning"- Observer.

Elmore Leonard: Killshot. Penguin Books, ISBN: 0140111107 (March, 2000), 287 p., £5.99 (?).

Elmore Leonard: Killshot (USA 1990)

From the Publisher:
"Dazzles And Does Not Disappoint... Pure, Distilled, Vintage Leonard." -- New York Times Book Review

KILLSHOT
Carmen saw the scam. She didn't mean to. But now Carmen and Wayne, her ironworker husband, have to pay. Because Blackbird kills clean. Richie kills crazy. And though these partners may be seriously mismatched, neither one has ever been known to hesitate when a working gun can settle all bets and take care of any living evidence...

"Masterful... gemlike... Bone-chilling... A riveting page-turner." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Pungent and funny, yet exactingly realistic... Leonard is breaking the bounds of his genre." -- USA Today

ELMORE LEONARD
"The best American writer of crime fiction alive." -- Newsweek

A DUAL MAIN SELECTION OF THE LITERARY GUILD

Elmore Leonard: Killshot. Warner Books, ISBN: 0446350419 (April, 1990), 287 p., $5.95.

Elmore Leonard: Killshot (USA 1989)

From the Publisher:
"What I want to tell you now, the only time you take out your gun and aim at something is when you gonna kill them... . Only when you know you can do it. Then all it takes is one shot. It's the same as with a hunter, a guy that knows what he's doing... . One shot, one kill."

Thus Armand Degas, aka Blackbird, addresses his fellow killer, Richie Nix, on the optimum way to take out human quarry -- with a killshot. Armand first meets Richie when the latter hijacks his Cadillac and tries to take him for a ride, but it's Armand who soon has the upper hand. This is appropriate because, of these lethal partners, Armand is the one with the cool and the brains. Richie is a hair-trigger ex-con whose highest aim is to rob a bank in every state. While striving to shake down an Algonac, Michigan, realtor, they encounter high ironworker Wayne Colson and his spirited wife, Carmen -- witnesses who must be eliminated. So a chase -- with very tough hounds and very tough hares -- ensues, and even the most case-hardened Elmore Leonard fans must succumb to sweating palms and hammering hearts as they traverse this trail of terror.

Wayne and Carmen are removed to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in the Federal Witness Security Program -- no picnic, even though they are innocent victims rather than plea-bargaining mobsters. With the absolute authenticity and informed color that are hallmarks of Elmore Leonard's settings, he lets us see exactly what this fugitive new life is really like -- from the sadism of the keeper to the frozen fear of waiting for the pursuers.

How can one of America's top crime-fiction writers possibly top himself once again? Join Wayne and Carmen Colson in this flight and fight to deadly resolution and you will soon find out.

Elmore Leonard lives in Birmingham, Michigan, with his wife, Joan. He is presently at work on his next novel.

Elmore Leonard: Killshot. Arbor House, ISBN: 1557100411 (March, 1989), 287 p., $18.95.