Leonard Elmore John

  Elmore John Leonard, Jr.  was an American novelist and screenwriter. Although his earliest novels were Westerns, Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.

 

  Leonard was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but due to his father's work as a site locator for General Motors, the family moved frequently for several years and settled in Detroit in 1934. He graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School in 1943 and immediately joined the Navy, where he served with the Seabees for three years in the South Pacific.

 

  Enrolling at the University of Detroit in 1946, he pursued writing more seriously, entering his work in short story contests and sending it off to magazines. He graduated in 1950 with a bachelor's degree in English and philosophy.

 

  Leonard had his first success in 1951 when Argosy published the short story "Trail of the Apaches". During the 1950s and early 1960s, he continued writing Westerns, publishing more than 30 short stories. He wrote his first novel, The Bounty Hunters, in 1953 and followed this with four other novels.

 

  He married Beverly Claire Cline in 1949, and they had five children together before divorcing in 1977. His second marriage in 1979, to Joan Leanne Lancaster (aka Joan Shepard), ended with her death in 1993. Later that same year, he married Christine Kent, and they divorced in 2012.

 

  Leonard spent the last years of his life with his family in Oakland County, Michigan. He suffered a stroke on July 29, 2013. Initial reports stated that Leonard was recovering from the stroke. On August 20, 2013, Leonard died at his home in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills of complications from the stroke.