The first thing you need to know about Elmore Leonard’s characters is that they are all impossibly cool. Even when they aren’t in a situation where they need to be cool, they just are. And this is what makes them so very readable. These people maintain their sang froid in situations that would leave people like you and me gibbering wrecks. You know, murders, interrogations, kidnaps, beatings, that sort of thing. And yet, in spite of all this, the characters are human and people we can relate to. They still have their human problems - divorce, insecurity, fear, loneliness.

This brings me to Mr Paradise. Tony Paradiso is an aged lawyer who hires a call girl and a friend to perform topless cheerleading while he watches recordings of football games. One night he is gunned down in his own home by an apparent home invasion. The police are called and quickly can see that they can clear up a number of seemingly unrelated crimes in one fell swoop. Such a seemingly simple story is told beautifully in Leonard’s spare style. No words are wasted, every sentence feels as though the author spent time examining them to see if they fit with the rest of them. This is deceptively simple writing which makes the story come alive.

Leonard writes contemporary stories, but his style makes these books appear to be set in the Roaring Twenties or Thirties. You can easily imagine any of the old time black and white movie stars bringing the books to the screen. It’s only when he mentions something modern - a music group or album, a film or TV show - that you realise that it’s set now. It’s odd, but all of his books seem to take place in a limbo, where gangsters and straights mix while wearing fedoras.

If you enjoy crime/detective thrillers and haven’t come across Leonard (and why not?) I recommend picking up at least one of them. My first foray into his crime writing was the excellent “The Black Dahlia” and I haven’t looked back.