The Tonto Woman and Other Western Stories

By Elmore Leonard

Book Overview

From a forbidden glance on a Miami night to a killer's slow burn on a Detroit street, no one mixes passion, scheming, and violence better than Elmore Leonard.??But before he did it in Miami Beach or Motor City, Elmore Leonard did it on the American frontier. This raw, hard-bitten collection gathers together the best of Leonard's Western fiction.??In stories that burn with passion, treachery, and heroism, the American frontier comes vividly, magnificently to life.??In "Only Good Ones," we meet a fine man turned killer in one impossible moment .??.??.??"Saint with a Six-Gun" pits a doomed prisoner against his young guard--in a drama of deception and compassion that leads to a shocking act of courage .??.??.??and in "The Colonel's Lady," a brutal ambush puts a woman into the hands of a vicious renegade--while a tracker attempts a rescue that cannot come in time. Etching a harsh, haunting landscape with razor-sharp prose, Elmore Leonard shows in nineteen brilliant stories why he has become the American poet laureate of the desperate and the bold.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385323875
• ISBN13: 9780385323871
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Delta
• Length: 345 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

The Art of the Western

THE TONTO WOMAN by Elmore 'Dutch' Leonard contains short stories that will redefine how you view 'The Old West' with plots twists and turns the likes of which any writer can envy. As a long time reader and fan of Leonard's I like to revisit the western stories from time to time to enjoy the dialogue, storyline construction, and characters that are anything but stock or easy to pigeon hole. THE TONTO WOMAN introduced us to a strong female lead long before it became common place, good guys who weren't necessarily all that good, bad guys who weren't all that bad, and folks caught in between who are still struggling with where they fit in or fall into the picture. Hollywood gave us a number of versions of the 'Old West' but I suspect it is authors like Leonard who provide a better and realistic look. This is a great commuter book. The stories are short, entertaining and well written.

Inimitable Leonard Western stories

A recent newcomer to the Western genre, I was told by a friend to pick up Elmore Leonard's westerns. I knew of Leonard's crime stories, of course, but hadn't read him. Quickly I have become a major fan. The other names in the Western genre can't touch Leonard. This is a great collection of short stories. I'm rapidly going through the Leonard canon of Westerns and will be very sorry when I get to the end...

The Stuff of Great Adventure

Elmore Leonard's short stories convey more plot, action, and true adventure than most action writer's best books. Here you don't get stock characters, lackluster descriptions or stilted dialogue instead you get a convincing look into a time long gone but hardly forgotten. The 'Old West' breaths again thanks to Leonard and for those who are just expecting to find just 'cowboy' stories you'll be pleased to find a craftsman storyteller carving out his best. So sit back and have an adventure or two courtesy of one damn good writer.

The same Elmore Leonard... even back then!

As a devoted Elmore Leonard fan, I jump at any opportunity to read anything of his. When I saw this collection of mostly 50's western short stories, I did not quite know what to expect. But, I should have know that Elmore Leonard's work would contain the same interesting characters that I have grown to expect.It was interesting to read some of his early work."Three-Ten To Yuma" was an interesting story... I remember the movie that was made from the idea of this story. "Only Good Ones" is a great story that Leonard later wrote into a full blown novel "Valdez Is Coming".... and made into a top notch movie with Burt Lancaster in the title roll.I particularly liked "Trouble At Rindo's Station".I highly reccomend this collection to any Elmore Leonard fan and hope that others not familiar with his work will check it out and perhaps read other things he has written.... "Hombre" is one of the best westerns ever written. And please try his later works when he switched from writing westerns to crime stories. He still has the same rich characters and great dialogue.

Elmore's excellent western tales that led to his mysteries

Before Elmore Leonard wrote contemporary mystery with an over the edge attitude, he was writing westerns with an over the edge attitude. This collection is a reprint of some of Mr. Leonard's western short stories, some of which haven't seen print in over four decades. Any fan of Mr. Leonard's mysteries will quickly see where he developed his talent for the hard boiled but passionate hero and the fiery in your face femme fatale. The ironic humor, the lovable wackos, and the barren scenery (the Arizona desert not Miami) help make this collection a must read by sub-genre and the author's mystery fans. This reviewer's contention is that it will not take much inspiration to persuade readers to try this anthology because they are all superb tales that represent some of Mr. Leonard's best works.Harriet Klausner