Elmore Leonard's Western Roundup #3: Valdez Is Coming and Hombre

by Elmore Leonard

Valdez Is Coming: The shotgun went off aimed at the wrong man, held in the wrong man's hands. A crowd had gathered to drink and laugh and shoot down at the old shack where a supposed killer was hiding out. Then Bob Valdez, humble town constable and stage-line shotgun rider, walked down to the shack. Moments later Valdez had killed an innocent man, and the crowd, sapped of its bloodlust, wandered off. But for Bob Valdez it was far from over. He wanted...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385333242
• ISBN13: 9780385333245
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: Delta
• Length: 289 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Hard-boiled westerns

I knew Leonard only by reputation and the movie "Get Shorty". I thought I'd pick him up someday. Meanwhile, I started to read westerns, and picked up a few L'Amours. Louis is good. But a friend told me that Leonard wrote westerns before mystery/thrillers. Try him, he said. I did, first with Valdez is Coming, then with Hombre. These two books are the best westerns I've read, and I'm reading the rest of Leonards. Stripped-down dialogue, steady action, and an atmosphere and voice that is totally captivating. The ending of Valdez is Coming is powerful and perfect, and I reread it several times. Hombre has great action and a strong moral message, but delivered sparely and without the sometimes windy sentimentality found in L'Amour. These two novels are very, very good indeed.