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playacting . . . and more trouble than he ever dreamed possible.
    Entertainment Weekly : “God bless Elmore Leonard. Grade A.”
    Detroit Free Press : “Elmore Leonard is back at his sly, finger-popping best.”
    Los Angeles Times Book Review : “ Tishomingo Blues is typical Elmore Leonard. Who could ask for anything more?
    From the novel:
    Newton Hoon sat in his trailer with a jelly glass of bourbon watching the news: that little TV girl with the two last names in the woods showing where James Rein and Eugene Dean had shot each other, saying both men were from Tunica but nothing about Rose.
    There she was now in the glade saying this was where Arlen Novis, former Tunica County sheriff’s deputy, and Detroit realtor Germano Mularoni staged their duel, calling them reenactors in a senseless confrontation of views that resulted in each man’s death. Oh, is that right? No mention of Walter. No mention of the smoke or the two greasers — Newton thinking of the one he’d asked that time where the nigger was and the one said he’d gone to fuck your wife. It had set him off, sure, even knowing it wasn’t true. One, Myrnawasn’t ever home, she played bingo every night of her life. And two, not even a smoke’d want to fuck her, Myrna going four hundred pounds on the hoof. Try and find the wet spot on her.
    When the Women Come Out to Dance (2002)
    In this collection of short fiction, Elmore Leonard demonstrates the superb characterizations, dead-on dialogue, vivid atmosphere, and driving plotting that have made him a household name. And once more, this master of crime illustrates that the line between the law and the lawbreakers is not as firm as we might think.
    Federal Marshall Karen Sisco, from the bestselling novel Out of Sight , returns in “Karen Makes Out,” once again inadvertently mixing pleasure with business. In “Fire in the Hole,” Raylan Givens, last seen in Riding the Rap and Pronto , meets up with an old friend, but they’re now on different sides of the law. In the title story, “When the Women Come Out to Dance,” Mrs. Mahmood gets more than she bargains for when she conspires with her maid to end her unhappy marriage. In all nine stories — each unique in its own right — reluctant heroes and laid-back lowlifes struggle for power, survival, and their fifteen minutes of fame.
    Vivid, hilarious, and unfailingly human, these stories ring true with Elmore Leonard’s signature deadpan social observations and diabolical eye for the foibles of the good guys and the bad.
    Contains: “Sparks”; “Hanging Out at the Buena Vista”; “Chisaw Charlie Hoak”; “When the Women Come Out to Dance”; “Fire in the Hole”; “Karen Makes Out”; “Hurrah for Capt. Early”; “The Tonto Woman”; “Tenkiller”
    From the collection:
    “Hanging Out at the Buena Vista”
    They lived in a retirement village of cottages set among palm trees and bougainvillea, maids driving golf carts. The woman, Natalie, wore silk scarves to cover what was left of her hair, a lavender scarf the afternoon Vincent appeared at her door. He told her through the screen he thought it was time they met. She said from the chair she sat in most of the day, “It’s open,” closed the book she was reading, a finger inside holding the page, and watched him come in in his khaki shorts and T-shirt.
    “You didn’t have to get dressed up on my account.”
    She liked his smile and the way he said, “I was right. I’ve found someone I can talk to.”
    “About what?”
    “Anything you want, except golf.”
    “You’re in luck. I don’t play golf.”
    “I know you don’t. I checked.”
    She liked his weathered look, his cap of white hair, uncombed. “You’re here by yourself?”
    “On my own, the first time in fifty-seven years.”
    She laid the book on the table next to her. “So now you’re what, dating?”
    He liked the way she said it, with a straight face.
    “If you’re interested, Jerry Vale’s coming next