The popular American crime writer Elmore Leonard has died aged 87. He was born in New Orleans in 1925, after serving in the Navy during World War II, he graduated from the University of Detroit and began work as a copy writer with an advertising agency. Here he began his writing career firstly with short stories, with his first publication in 1951.He continued with short stories throughout his career, but moved onto writing Western novels, the first The Bounty Hunters being published in 1953. Through the years he went on to write crime and mystery novels, also screen plays. 19 movies and 7 television series have been adapted from Elmore Leonard’s short stories and novels, the best known are the crime-comedy Get Shorty, the western 3.10 to Yuma, adapted in 1957 and again in 2007, Hombre adapted in 1967 and The Big Bounce adapted in 1969 and again 2004. His last novel Raylan published in 2012 has been adapted, with several other Leonard works into the continuing television series Justified.