Alex Segura is a novelist and comic book writer. He is the author of the Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery novels, all via Polis Books.Segura's latest book is Blackout.
One of the author's twelve essential Miami crime novels, as shared at CrimeReads:
Elmore Leonard, Rum PunchRead about another entry on the list.
[Rum Punch doesn't] happen in Miami, per se, but do[es] evoke a strong Florida crime sensibility that’s influenced dozens of writers. Elmore Leonard needs nointroduction. His westerns and Detroit-set crime novels are required reading. But something interesting happened along the way for Leonard, and his evolution from hardboiled Detroit street poet to chronicler of Florida Weird is a sight to see. The basis for Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, Rum Punch features the best elements of Leonard’s Florida novels—impeccable, free-flowing dialogue, shady dealing and more memorable characters than you could ever hope for. If I’m ever asked to suggest one Leonard novel to a new reader, this is the one I choose. But do read them all. You’ll be better for it.
Rum Punch is among Jeff Somers's ten strangest novels set in Florida, the Telegraph's top ten Elmore Leonard film adaptations, and Ben Mankiewicz's six favorite books.
--Marshal Zeringue
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