Bestselling crime writer Elmore Leonard’s death anniversary

CAIRO - 20 August 2017: Sunday marks the death of the 87-year-old bestselling crime writer Elmore Leonard. Leonard passed away on August 20, 2013.

Leonard was an American novelist best known for writing crime novels and westerns, many of which had been adapted for movies.

He was born in New Orleans on October 11, 1925. While working as a copywriter at an advertising agency, he began to write western novels and short stories for magazines in the 1950s.

When the market for westerns began to loss popularity, he began to write crime fiction. Many of his writings became Hollywood hits. He published his first crime novel in 1969 entitled ‘The Big Bounce.’

He gained his popularity after publishing ‘Fifty-two Pickup’ (1974), ‘Swag’ (1976), ‘Split Images’ (1981), ‘Stick’ (1983), and ‘LaBrava’ (1983). He had a breakout hit with his crime thriller ‘Glitz,’ which was about a Miami detective chasing a rapist.

’Glitz’ followed another successful story called ‘Freaky Deaky’ (1988). ‘Freaky Deaky’ was followed by ‘Killshot’ (1989), ‘Get Shorty’ (1990), and ‘Out of Sight’ which was adapted as a movie in 1995.