Customer Reviews

Elmore Leonard, The Apache Medicine and the Hard Way: Unabridged Stories from The Tonto Woman and Other Western Stories

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Before Elmore Leonard wrote contemporary mystery with an over the edge attitude, he was writing westerns with an over the edge attitude. This collection is a reprint of some of Mr. Leonard's western short stories, some of which haven't seen print in over four decades.

Any fan of Mr. Leonard's mysteries will quickly see where he developed his talent for the hard boiled but passionate hero and the fiery in your face femme fatale. The ironic humor, the lovable wackos, and the barren scenery (the Arizona desert not Miami) help make this collection a must read by sub-genre and the author's mystery fans. This reviewer's contention is that it will not take much inspiration to persuade readers to try this anthology because they are all superb tales that represent some of Mr. Leonard's best works.

Harriet Klausner

A recent newcomer to the Western genre, I was told by a friend to pick up Elmore Leonard's westerns. I knew of Leonard's crime stories, of course, but hadn't read him.

Quickly I have become a major fan. The other names in the Western genre can't touch Leonard. This is a great collection of short stories.

I'm rapidly going through the Leonard canon of Westerns and will be very sorry when I get to the end...

Elmore Leonard does create truly memorable flesh and blood, though often quirky, characters and this was just as true when he wrote western pulp fiction in the 50's, 60's, and 70's as it is now. For instance, there are Rueben Vega and the title character of the main story, Pat Brennan (The Captives), Bobby Valdez and Lyall Quinlan (Saint With A Six-Gun), Amelia Darck and Simon Street (The Colonel's Lady) among others. There are classic tales such as 3:10 To Yuma" and "Hurrah For Captain Early". There's much about the independence of women and about troubled ethnic relations. These are western tales which can be enjoyed by those who ordinarily dislike westerns. And those fans of the later Elmore Leonard will find much that's delightful in his western stories.

THE TONTO WOMAN by Elmore 'Dutch' Leonard contains short stories that will redefine how you view 'The Old West' with plots twists and turns the likes of which any writer can envy.

As a long time reader and fan of Leonard's I like to revisit the western stories from time to time to enjoy the dialogue, storyline construction, and characters that are anything but stock or easy to pigeon hole.

THE TONTO WOMAN introduced us to a strong female lead long before it became common place, good guys who weren't necessarily all that good, bad guys who weren't all that bad, and folks caught in between who are still struggling with where they fit in or fall into the picture.

Hollywood gave us a number of versions of the 'Old West' but I suspect it is authors like Leonard who provide a better and realistic look.

This is a great commuter book. The stories are short, entertaining and well written.

Elmore Leonard's short stories convey more plot, action, and true adventure than most action writer's best books. Here you don't get stock characters, lackluster descriptions or stilted dialogue instead you get a convincing look into a time long gone but hardly forgotten. The 'Old West' breaths again thanks to Leonard and for those who are just expecting to find just 'cowboy' stories you'll be pleased to find a craftsman storyteller carving out his best. So sit back and have an adventure or two courtesy of one damn good writer.

As a devoted Elmore Leonard fan, I jump at any opportunity to read anything of his. When I saw this collection of mostly 50's western short stories, I did not quite know what to expect. But, I should have know that Elmore Leonard's work would contain the same interesting characters that I have grown to expect.

It was interesting to read some of his early work.

"Three-Ten To Yuma" was an interesting story... I remember the movie that was made from the idea of this story. "Only Good Ones" is a great story that Leonard later wrote into a full blown novel "Valdez Is Coming".... and made into a top notch movie with Burt Lancaster in the title roll.

I particularly liked "Trouble At Rindo's Station".

I highly reccomend this collection to any Elmore Leonard fan and hope that others not familiar with his work will check it out and perhaps read other things he has written.... "Hombre" is one of the best westerns ever written. And please try his later works when he switched from writing westerns to crime stories. He still has the same rich characters and great dialogue.

A delightful collection of Western short stories by a master. You'll find the original for the movie "3:10 to Yuma," plus at least one Randolph Scott thriller. I understand "Tonto Woman" is now a movie and up for an Academy Award.

Reading Elmore Leonard is like eating candy. The main difference between these stories of the 1950's and his later work is that the heroes of these stories are not cynical.

This is my 3rd Elmore Leonard Book in a row, so I guess I'm steadily approaching burnout. Love his cool, concise prose style but I'm beginning notice pretty much the same "low-key, cool-as-ice underdog improbably wins in the end" theme over and over. The characters, settings and situations change with admirable variety, but the outcome is always the same, one way or another. Along the way there is a subtle and somewhat subversive criticism of the societal, economic and political status quo which is hard not to enjoy.

Makes for great beach and in-flight reading, that's for sure. Afterwards I can barely remember anything about most of these stories...