Elmore Leonard, US crime novelist, dies at 87

US crime writer Elmore Leonard, author of such books as Get Shorty, Maximum Bob and Out of Sight, has died at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke, BBC News reported.

A statement on his official website said he had died on Tuesday morning "surrounded by his loving family".

The author of 45 novels, Leonard had been in the process of writing his 46th.

Author Patricia Cornwell paid tribute, saying he was "one of the true icons of crime literature and entertainment".
She added he would be "hugely missed".

Leonard suffered a stroke earlier this month in Detroit and had been in hospital. He died at his home in the city's Bloomfield Village suburb.

British author Ian Rankin called Leonard "a great writer". "Gave me a few tips once," he wrote on Twitter. "I ignored most of them."

Journalist and author Tony Parsons also remembered Leonard as a "great writer" whose books would "never die".

Born in New Orleans in 1925, Leonard started out writing western stories before turning to crime fiction in the 1960s.

Renowned for his terse, no-nonsense style and sparse use of dialogue, his works inspired numerous screen adaptations.

Hombre, 3.10 to Yuma, Get Shorty and Rum Punch were among those filmed, the latter by Quentin Tarantino under the title Jackie
Brown.

One of his more heroic characters, US Marshal Raylan Givens, inspired the TV series Justified, while his 1978 novel The Switch was filmed this year as Life of Crime.

Yet Leonard was not always impressed by how his books were adapted, being particularly dismayed by the two films made of his 1969 novel The Big Bounce.

"I wanted to see my books made into good movies, but for some reason they'd just be lame," he once said.

"At first that sort of thing frustrated me, but I've since learnt to live with it."

His 10 Rules of Writing, published in 2001, contained such salutary admonishments as "never open a book with weather" and "keep your exclamation points under control".

"I always start with the characters," he revealed in 2004. "I get to page 300 and I start thinking about the ending."

The same year he wrote A Coyote's In the House, a book for children about a coyote who befriends some canine performers in Hollywood.

His many accolades included the F Scott Fitzgerald award in 2008 and the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.

He received a further lifetime achievement prize last year, presented at America's National Book Awards.