ELMORE LEONARD – Unknown Man No. 89. Delacorte, hardcover, 1977. Reprinted many times, in both hardcover and soft, including Dell, 1978 (shown).

   I’ve read a couple of Elmore Leonard’s in the distant past and enjoyed them more than enough to want to read a few more.

   However I’ve only just got around to this other one, which is about process server Jack Ryan who is hired to trace a violent criminal by a man who specialises in finding unclaimed stock issues and the unknowing rights holders.

   Offered a goodly sum, Ryan pursues the criminal but his life changes when at an AA meeting he bumps into the criminal’s wife.

   Knowing that he is being pursued on all sides by violent criminals, he must arrange things so that they are clear of all that, preferable with outstanding money to their credit.

   I raced through the first 50 pages but somehow it all slowed down — probably my own fault — for another 50 pages before grabbing my attention and racing through to the end. I shall have to get to some of the other Leonard’s in my TBR pile.