Hombre

Elmore Leonard is best known for his crime novels, and he is a Grand Master of the genre. He is often placed alongside writers such as John D. MacDonald, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Robert Parker. He also wrote several western novels, and Hombre is one of them. It was adapted into a Hollywood film starring Paul Newman.

The story takes place in the mining country of Arizona and follows John Russell, a white man who was raised by Apaches. When a stagecoach is attacked by outlaws, he has to help the travelers, people who despise him for where he came from.

Readers who know Leonard's urban crime stories, which unfold in Detroit and Miami and are full of double-crosses and killings, will recognize his sharp pacing here. The western setting changes the surroundings but not the tension.

Leonard also created the U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, who later appeared in the television series Justified.