Charlie Martz and Other Stories

April 6, 2015
Written while Leonard (Raylan) held a day job as an advertising copywriter, this posthumous collection showcases the early writing of the author of westerns and crime stories, revealing his particular genius in embryonic, pulpish form. Fans of Justified’s Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens will recognize his roots in straight-shooting Charlie Martz, a lawman in the New Mexico Territory who is featured in several stories. Aficionados of the classic movie westerns 3:10 to Yuma and The Tall T, both adapted from Leonard’s short stories, will find a familiar narrative in “Confession,” in which a Catholic priest defends his church against two cold-blooded outlaws. Readers familiar with the mean streets of Leonard’s Detroit will feel right at home with “One, Horizontal,” as a man seeks revenge on the mobsters responsible for crippling his brother. Tough guys, another Leonard constant, clash in “For Something to Do,” in which a veterinarian squares off against a jealous boxer over a woman. Leonard’s trademark pitch-perfect ear for dialogue is on full display with the battling husband and wife of “The Italian Cut.” And lovers of his movie-business satire, Get Shorty, will laugh knowingly at the antics of an overlooked American film extra making a sword-and-sandals epic in Spain in “The Only Good Syrian Footsoldier Is a Dead One.” Despite the occasional dips into purple prose, the 15 stories in this collection are an enjoyable illustration of a writer taking his first halting steps toward greatness.

Starred review from June 1, 2015

In this anthology of 15 stories (11 of which have never been previously published), the early Leonard is working through the quirky, tough, humorous, and always surprising characters his many fans have come to expect. The geographical settings as well as the time periods vary, which gives readers a taste of a young writer's ability to experiment and flex, finding new voices and locations with which to captivate his audience. Featuring characters from an aging territorial lawman still capable of outsmarting hooligans to a matador-turned-migrant farm worker, the stories take us down bumpy dirt roads in New Mexico and on to villas in southern Spain and back to stage props and Hollywood sets. VERDICT There's a reason Leonard has been labeled one of the best crime writers in America and why his clipped and witty dialog and economical writing style have found their way to television and film. He's just a great storyteller. Leonard devotees will love this book, and new readers will want to check out his novels after reading this work of short fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 12/15/14.]--Russell Miller, Prescott P.L., AZ

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2015

Written as Leonard was transitioning from the Westerns that established him as a writer to thrillers that sent him into orbit, these short stories should satisfy anyone craving the deceased author's work. Here, we visit bars in New Mexico and Michigan, a Hollywood film set, a hotel in Spain, and more, encountering characters that are quintessentially Leonard. His most recent story collection, When the Women Come Out To Dance, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. With a 125,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2015
Fifteen mostly unpublished stories-Westerns, war stories, dispatches from Detroit-written in the 1950s. Leonard's son Peter notes in his brief introduction that Hemingway was the formative influence on his father's prose, and you'll find echoes of Papa everywhere here. The slight coming-of-age story "The Line Rider" and the will-he-or-won't-he-stray anecdotes "Arma Virumque Cano" and "Evenings Away from Home" drag their unprepared heroes into Hemingway territory; "Charlie Martz" and "First Western Siesta in Paloverde" bring the sheriff of Dona Ana County up against two shooters hungry for revenge; "Short Stories for Men: The Bull Ring at Blisston" forces an ex-bullfighter to cap one last bull in Michigan; and the Anglos stopping in a Torremolinos hotel in "A Happy, Lighthearted People" could have stepped right out of "Homage to Switzerland." More subtle echoes of Hemingway turn up in the twisted marital idyll of "The Italian Cut" and the moral dilemmas the heroes and heroines face in the Mexico of "Confession," the Malaya of "Time of Terror," and the Civil War of "Rebel on the Run." But the most obvious influence is in the testosterone posturing that drives the avenging brother of "One, Horizontal" and the farmer invited to become a sales rep in "The Trespassers." Like Hemingway, Leonard excels in dramatizing the point at which apparently friendly mano a mano joshing threatens to erupt in violence for the Hollywood extra in "The Only Good Syrian Foot Soldier Is a Dead One" and the rifle-toting ex-boyfriend of "For Something to Do," perhaps the most characteristic of all these tales. Not by any means apprentice work-Leonard's first four novels appeared over the same period as these stories-but interesting mostly for the signs and promises of the author's future laconic command of dialogue and action and his knowing, lazy, wryly amused trademark voice.

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May 1, 2015
Leonard, whose 10 Rules of Writing became a famous touchstone for authors, breaks many of his own edicts in this collection of 15 early, mostly unpublished stories from the 1950sbut, to be fair, even the guy who writes the rules first needs to decide what they are. Here we see a master craftsman in his apprenticeship, his influences more apparent than his influence as he tries his hand at crime fiction ( One, Horizontal ); westerns ( Charlie Martz, First Western Siesta in Paloverde ); general magazine fiction ( A Happy, Light-Hearted People, Evenings Away from Home ); and more ( Time of Terror, a tale of terrorism in Malaysia). Already Leonard's imagination is pulled between present and past, between Midwest, West, and abroad, interests that would define his career. Are they good stories? Well, pretty good. They contain both the promise and the problems of all such early work, and readers will have to decide whether their time would be better spent revisiting the products of the writer at his peak. Die-hard fans will find this one difficult to resist.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)