New Elmore Leonard Biography

“C.M. ‘Chad’ Kushins’ Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Times of Elmore Leonard draws heavily on the work of earlier biographers—David Geherin, Paul Challen, James Devlin, Charles Rzepka, and myself. My contributions include the extensive factual chronology and book-by-book research notes published in Elmore Leonard: The Classic Crime Novels: A Library of America Boxed Set, for which I served as editor—part of the framework of Cooler Than Cool.

Kushins was the first to write a cradle-to-grave biography with full access to the Leonard archives, the richest source material available to a biographer. He drew on a wide range of accounts from people who knew or worked with Dutch, and had unprecedented access to his children, grandchildren, and first wife Beverly. The result is a family-sponsored narrative told from multiple family points of view.

My memoir, I’d Kill to Have Your Job: Getting the Goods for Elmore Leonard, will fill in some of the gaps in Chad’s book and offer a broader, research-driven view. I have an extensive archive of my own—not nearly as comprehensive as the official Elmore Leonard archive—but built over three decades as Dutch’s researcher. It includes documents, audio, video, and a large collection of location photos, all of which inform my book.

Cooler Than Cool is a worthwhile addition to Elmore Leonard scholarship.
More to come.