Elmore Leonard, LaBrava. As a longtime fan of the much-admired crime novelist who hit the cable-TV jackpot with Justified, I not infrequently get asked which of Leonard’s books to read first. I suggest this one, a 1983 thriller about a Secret Service agent turned fine-art photographer who relocates to Miami Beach and gets mixedup with a superannuated film-noir star who is clearly meant to remind you of Jane Greer. It’s smart, dryly witty, soundly plotted, and immensely entertaining (TT).
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
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