Maximum Bob, Elmore Leonard

There's a judge who considers himself a bit of a ladies' man and likes to sentence criminals to the full capacity of the law - hence his nickname Maximum Bob. And there's a cute parole officer, Kathy Diaz Baker, that he's got his eye on, who in turn has her eye on this cop, Gary Hammond, who's trying to find out who's trying to kill the judge. The number one suspect is Elvin Crowe, a hard-core, drop-kick criminal fresh out of jail whose case file lands with the cute parole officer. Add to that the judge's wife, a flaky spiritualist who channels the spirit of a 12 year old black girl at the most inconvenient times and a crack-addict-dermatologist who likes to walk around nude, showing his darker-than-the-rest-of-him man-tackle. And there you have the plot of Maximum Bob.

Nobody writes likes Elmore Leonard. His plots crackle faster than that snapping candy you ate in childhood and his character descriptions are flawless. The plot is windy and fun, and the writing is light-hearted but never facetious. He manages to capture the nuances and accents of his characters perfectly, and they're always as cool as ice. A good read.