Crime Novelist Elmore Leonard Suffers Stroke

DETROIT (WWJ/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, whose family moved to Detroit when he was a child, has made Southeast Michigan his home ever since.

He has written 45 Westerns, crime novels and mysteries.

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

Leonard also wrote the story "Fire in the Hole" — featuring edgy cowboy cop Raylan Givens —which became the basis for the pilot episode of the popular FX network series "Justified" in 2010.

Leonard was given an honorary National Book Award last year.

According to Sutter, Leonard has been at work on book No. 46.

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