The Hot Kid: A Novel

The undisputed master of the crime novel strikes again with this powerfully entertaining story, set in 1920s Oklahoma, that introduces one of the toughest lawmen ever to come out of the west. . . . 

Carlos Webster was 15 the day he witnessed his first murder—but it wouldn’t be his last. It was also his first introduction to the notorious gunman, Emmet Long. By the time Carlos is 20, he’s being sworn in as a deputy United States marshal and now goes by the name Carl. As for Emmet, he’s robbing banks with his new partner, the no-good son of an oil millionaire.

Carl Webster and Emmet Long may be on opposite sides of the law but their long-time game of cat and mouse will turn them both into two of the most famous names in crime and punishment.

Carl Webster, the hot kid of the marshals service, is polite, respects his elders, and can shoot a man driving away in an Essex at four hundred yards. Carl works out of the Tulsa, Oklahoma, federal courthouse during the 1930s, the period of America's most notorious bank robbers: Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson -- those guys.

Carl wants to be America's most famous lawman. He shot his first felon when he was fifteen years old. With a Winchester.

Louly Brown loves Carl but wants the world to think she is Pretty Boy Floyd's girlfriend.

Tony Antonelli of True Detective magazine wants to write like Richard Harding Davis and wishes cute little Elodie wasn't a whore. She and Heidi and the girls work at Teddy's in Kansas City, where anything goes and the girls wear -- what else -- teddies.

Jack Belmont wants to rob banks, become public enemy number one, and show his dad, an oil millionaire, he can make it on his own.

With tommy guns, hot cars, speakeasies, cops and robbers, and a former lawman who believes in vigilante justice, all played out against the flapper period of gun molls and Prohibition, The Hot Kid is Elmore Leonard -- a true master -- at his best.

Praise for MR.PARADISE: “The dialogue and the characters crackle ...MR. PARADISE is a perfect crime caper from a master.” - Detroit Free Press

“Smart writing about dumb crooks.” - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“...Rips along like a bandit’s getaway car...THE HOT KID is Leonard at his best.” - Tulsa World

“His 40th crime novel—and he just keeps getting better and better. ” - Deseret News

“THE HOT KID brims with the sly humor, sparse prose and razor dialogue we expect from the master” - Los Angeles Times Book Review

“The HOT KID is Elmore Leonard- a master- at his best.” - Oklahoma City Oklahoman

“Elmore Leonard unspools the definitive portrait of 1930s lowlife” - Boston Sunday Globe (Stephen King)

“This is a novel that... is all about style, literary and otherwise.” - New York Times Book Review

Clear, fast-paced and masterfully structured.” - Philadelphia Inquirer

“Wonderfully funny and hair-raising...THE HOT KID is splendid.” - Providence Sunday Journal

“No one is Leonard’s equal.” - Chicago Tribune

“...delivers the goods in a top-notch amalgam of sagebrush western and mob drama.” - Lexington Herald-Leader

“...expertly crafted, deftly balanced.” - Houston Chronicle

“There’s nothing Elmore Leonard doesn’t know about stylish writing, and THE HOT KID is him at his compressed best.” - Detroit Free Press

“The writing is pitch-perfect throughout...it’s all pure Leonard, and that means it’s pure terrific.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Crime fiction’s greatest living practitioner.” - Washington Post Book World

“His books defy classification …What Leonard does is write fully realized novels.” - Dallas Morning News