Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch (UK 2025)

From the Publisher:
An air hostess doing the Caribbean-Florida run, Jackie also uses her job to shift large amounts of hot money. The Feds are closing in on her and the highly dysfunctional arms-dealers she works for are not getting any more functional. It would involve huge risks, but could she perhaps walk away from the whole wreckage, happy and rich?

Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch. Penguin Modern Classics, ISBN: 9780241755402 (June, 2025), 272 p., £10.99, eBook £5.99.

Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch (USA 2011)

From the Publisher:
Ordell "Whitebread" Robbie makes a fine living selling illegal high-powered weaponry to the wrong people. Jackie Burke couriers Ordell's profits from Freeport to Miami. But the feds are on to Jackie - and now the aging, but still hot, flight attendant will have to do prison time or play ball, which makes her a prime "loose end" that Ordell needs to tie up permanently. Jackie, however, has other options. And with the help of Max Cherry - an honest but disgruntled bail bondsman looking to get out - she could even end up with a serious nest egg in the process.

"Irresistible... . [Leonard] continually invents characters who lie, cheat, steal, rob, deceive, betray, maim, kill, and stomp on any remaining niceties of civilized behavior that get in their way. The wonder is that he makes these figures comprehensible and occasionally even sympathetic." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Unputdownable... . The story goes down easy, and packs a real wallop in the end." -- Washington Post

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: Rum Punch. William Morrow Paperbacks, ISBN: 9780062119827 (October, 2011), 344 p., $14.99.

Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch (UK 2004)

From the Publisher:
Winner of the Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger 2006
Ordell Robbie makes a fine living selling illegal high-powered weaponry to the wrong people. Jackie Burke couriers Ordell's profits from Freeport to Miami. But the Feds are on to Jackie - and now the aging, but still hot, flight attendant will have to do prison time or play ball, which makes her a prime 'loose end' that Ordell needs to tie up - permanently. Jackie, however, has other plans. And with the help of Max Cherry - an honest but disgruntled bail bondsman - she could even end up with a serious nest egg in the process.

'Dialogue like broken glass, sharp and glittering, and a raft of low-lifes individualised in primary colours like hard-edged pop-art' -- Independent
'Elmore Leonard can write circles around almost anybody active in the crime novel today' -- New York Times Book Review

Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch. Phoenix, ISBN: 0753819732 (December, 2004), 245 p., £6.99.

Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch (USA 2002)

From the Publisher:
Ordell "Whitebread" Robbie makes a fine living selling illegal high-powered weaponry to the wrong people. Jackie Burke couriers Ordell's profits from Freeport to Miami. But the feds are on to Jackie - and now the aging, but still hot, flight attendant will have to do prison time or play ball, which makes her a prime "loose end" that Ordell needs to tie up permanently. Jackie, however, has other options. And with the help of Max Cherry - an honest but disgruntled bail bondsman looking to get out - she could even end up with a serious nest egg in the process.

Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch. Harpertorch, ISBN: 0060082194 (June, 2002), 368 p., $7.50.

Elmore Leonard: Jackie Brown (UK 1998)

From the Publisher:
RUM PUNCH, the original novel, now the basis for a Quentin Tarantino film, Jackie Brown
Miami, Florida, lose control for a second, you're gone. For bail bondsman Max Cherry, control is slipping away fast. His ex just moved in with some Cuban artist, the mob is into his business, and he's broken the golden rule: never fall in love with a client. Especially one as smart as air hostess Jackie Burke.

Ordell Robbie has made it semi-big, with the women, Mercedes and attitude to prove it. For the giant leap to real wealth, he's using a posse of cracked-up jackboys, and Jackie, the cutest sky smuggler he ever saw. But when Jackie gets grounded, all flights of fancy are up for grabs. Whose rum has the hardest punch?

'A brilliant and subversive book' -- Sunday Telegraph
'Displays Leonard's customary narrative verve, street-sharp dialogue, and piquant humour' -- The Times Literary Supplement

Elmore Leonard: Jackie Brown. Film and TV tie-in edition. Penguin, ISBN: 0140269622 (March, 1998), 297 p., £6.99.

Elmore Leonard: Jackie Brown (USA 1998)

From the Publisher:
"LEONARD'S BEST WORK!"
He brilliantly reaffirms his right to the title of America's finest crime-fiction writer." -- People

"UNPUTDOWNABLE!"
Beneath its fast-moving surface, [this] is a novel about growing old, about the way that time changes us, about the old dream of starting over again and its cost." -- The Washington Post Book World

"AN INTRICATELY COMPELLING PLOT... A STRONG CAST OF CHARACTERS... AND AN EXCITING CLIMAX." -- The New York Times

"PERFECT PITCH... INCREDIBLE PACING...
An equal opportunity kind of story where the sleazebags come in all colors and genders, and their habits run from blowing people's brains out to lip-syncing. Leonard may write the best dialogue of any contemporary writer; his ear is unerring, he doesn't miss a nuance." -- The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

Jackie Brown.
MIRAMAX FILMS PRESENTS A BAND APART A FILM BY QUENTIN TARANTINO
PAM GRIER - SAMUEL L. JACKSON - ROBERT FORSTER - BRIDGET FONDA - MICHAEL KEATON AND ROBERT DE NIRO

Elmore Leonard: Jackie Brown. Dell, ISBN: 0440226066 (January, 1998), 344 p., $6.50.

Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch (UK 1993)

From the Publisher:
After 20 years as a flight attendant, Jackie is arrested with $50,000 when she lands at Palm Beach. The police know that Jackie works for a man who sells machine guns to bad guys but they don't know his name. Jackie has the option of informing on the smuggler, going to jail or skipping bail.

Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch. Penguin, ISBN: 0140139583 (October, 1993), 297 p., £5.99 (?).

Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch (USA 1993)

From the Publisher:
"UNPUTDOWNABLE! BENEATH ITS FAST-MOVING SURFACE, RUM PUNCH IS A NOVEL ABOUT GROWING OLD, ABOUT THE WAY THAT TIME CHANGES US, ABOUT THE OLD DREAM OF STARTING OVER AGAIN AND ITS COST." -- The Washington Post Book World

Pretty working-girl Jackie Burke is in a tight spot. She's just been picked up at Palm Beach International with fifty grand and some blow stashed in her flight bag. Lucky for her, the Feds want something Jackie's got; the inside track to Ordell Robbie, the notoriously slick arms dealer. And they're ready to deal -- Ordell in exchange for her freedom. But Jackie's got another ace up her sleeve...

Enter Max Cherry, bail bondsman. Big, tough, basically decent, Max is on the verge of divorce and tired of the same old grind. That's where Jackie comes in. The fifty big ones are peanuts compared to what Ordell's got locked away in Freeport. But when a blowsy blond blowhead and a none-too-bright ex-con try to muscle in on the action, it's time to pull the old bait-and-switch -- where the good guys are played off against the bad guys -- and where Jackie and Max hope to walk off into the Florida sunset with a hot half million in cold cash.

"EXPERTLY BLENDED... POTENT DUTCH!" -- Sun-Times (Chicago)
"RUM PUNCH IS LEONARD'S BEST WORK! HE BRILLIANTLY REAFFIRMS HIS RIGHT TO THE TITLE OF AMERICA'S FINEST CRIME-FICTION WRITER." -- People

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

Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch. Dell Publishing, ISBN: 0440214157 (August, 1993), 344 p., $6.50.

Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch (USA 1992)

From the Publisher:
"Unputdownable! Beneath it's fast moving surface, Rum Punch is a novel about growing old, about the way that time changes us, about the old dream of starting over agian and its cost."--The Washington Post Book World.

Pretty working-girl Jackie Burke is in a tight spot. She's just been picked up at Palm Beach International with fifty grand and some blow stashed in her flight bag. Lucky for her, the Feds want something Jackie's got: the inside track to Ordell Robbie, the notoriusly slick arms dealer. And they're ready to deal -- Ordell in exchange for her freedom. But Jackie's got another ace up her sleeve...

Enter Max Cherry, bail bondsman. Big, tough, basically decent Max is on the verge of divorce and tired of the same old grind. That's where Jackie comes in. The fifty big ones are peanuts compared to what Ordell's got locked away in Freeport. But when a blowsy blond blowhead and a none-too-bright ex con try to muscle in on the action, it's time to pull and old bait and switch -- where the good guys are played off against the bad guys -- and where Jackie and Max hope to walk off into the Florida sunset with a hot half million in cold cash.

Elmore Leonard: Rum Punch. Delacorte Press, ISBN: 038530143X (August, 1992), 297 p., $21.00.