Elmore Leonard (1925--2013) began his long and extraordinary career as a writer of Westerns, most famously a story which was made into the film 3:10 To Yuma . He then became known for his remarkable sequence of crime novels, generally set in Michigan or Florida. A master of funny and threatening dialogue, his influence has been incalculable. Leonard received the Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN US and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America.