Crime novelist Elmore Leonard suffers stroke

[August 07, 2013]  DETROIT (AP) -- Acclaimed crime novelist Elmore Leonard is recovering at a hospital following a stroke last week.

Leonard's longtime researcher, Gregg Sutter, said Tuesday that family members are guardedly optimistic about the 87-year-old author's condition.

Leonard lives in suburban Detroit.

He has written 45 Westerns, crime novels and mysteries. Sutter says Leonard has been at work on No. 46.

Many of his books -- notably "Out of Sight," "Get Shorty" and "Be Cool" -- have become films. "Life of Crime," based on Leonard's "The Switch," is to be screened at the Toronto Film Festival next month.

Leonard was given an honorary National Book Award last year.

[Associated Press]

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