Up in Honey's Room and Pronto
by Elmore Leonard
Phoenix, HK$108
Clobbered by the New Year blues? Luckily Elmore Leonard is here to cheer us up with two more re-issues from his wondrous back catalogue. First published in 1993, Pronto stars Harry Arno, a Miami bookmaker who wants to retire to Italy with girlfriend Joyce. Before he can do this Harry is co-opted by the Feds to snitch on mob boss Jimmy 'Cap' Capotorto (also seen in Get Shorty). But Harry makes his exit anyway, closely pursued by cops and robbers. This keenly plotted masterwork features Leonard's eccentric prose, his snappy dialogue and some encounters with poet Ezra Pound - often all at once. '[Pound] looked at me and, while he was still typing, said, 'The ant's a centaur in his dragon world. Pull down thy vanity...' I said, 'What?'' Up in Honey's Room is Leonard of a more recent vintage (2007). Our hero is Walter Schoen, a dead ringer for Heinrich Himmler, whose wife (the astounding Honey Deal) has grown tired of his Teutonic rants. When Marshall Carl Webster pursues two escaped German PoWs, he and Honey uncover a network of fascistic complexity. Elmore Leonard is a genius. But don't take my word for it. Read his.
