Rating: 
Summary: Whadda book!
Review: Has Mr. Leonard written anything that wasn't good? I don't think so. This is his most interesting effort to date. Well-written and full of humor and oblique decadence, this is his best yet. Michican football on the TV, cheerleader Chloe with her pompoms, and Montez Taylor are just some of Leonard's little surprises. As with all his books, he builds things up gradually and toward a satisfying conclusion. Thank you once again, Mr. Leonard! Keep at it!Also recommended: Another Roadside Attraction and Bark of the Dogwood
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant . . . as usual
Review: Well, Mr. Leonard is at it again, and thank goodness. "Mr. Paradise is a wonder, full of his usual twists and turns, snappy dialogue, well-drawn characters, and great plot. While "Tishomingo Blues" is my all-time favorite, "Mr. Paradise" is close behind. Well done. Also recommended: Tishomingo Blues and Bark of the Dogwood by McCrae
Rating:
Summary: Thanks, Dutch
Review: I have read almost all of Elmore Leonard's novels. Mr. Paradise is one of his best. No one can write dialogue and use phrasing like him. Who else can represent the essence of characters in so few words? Of course, humor and irony abound- with the book capturing the grittiness and reality of both police and criminals, and at the same time raising questions of good and evil in shades of gray? The setting is Detroit and its suburbs; the plot about hitmen (but also about loneliness and life's unpredictability); and the characters- complex, crafty, and dumb as turkeys. Can anyone still argue that crime or mystery fiction lacks literary merit? It's such a pleasure to read a book like this. (I'm home with the flu and, between naps, it absorbed me and made me laugh. Can anyone ask for more.) So thanks, Dutch, from all of your readers. We owe you.
Rating: 
Summary: Vintage Detroit Dutch
Review: Another solid read from the master. While not quite as tight as some of Elmore's 70's Detroit novels (Unknown Man #89, The Switch, Swag, City Primeval, 52 Pick Up), Mr. Paradise still displays his trademark ear for dialogue and ability to shift scenes as seen through different characters. If I had one slight criticism, it would be that Elmore introduces many minor characters that don't seem to add a lot to the overall book and made it a bit congested at times. There are plenty of references, both small and large, to other of his Detroit books, which will be fun for experienced readers of Leonard. For those new to Leonard, I would start with The Switch, Swag or Unknown Man #89. All in all, Mr. Paradise is worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Leonard is on Auto-Pilot (with Hollywood in mind to boot)
Review: I thought the book was a bit "sad" and lacking the energetic
wit that is most of Leonard's novels. Further, I felt that
the book was written a little too much in a soon-to-be-a-major-motion-picture style.
Rating:
Summary: Topless Cheerleaders and Stupid Bad Guys, Oh My!
Review: Mr. Paradise, real name Anthony Paridiso, is a retired personal injuries attorney. He's eighty-four years old, healthy for his years and he gets his kicks watching video tapes of his favorite Wolverines' football games. Well, he sort of spices up the video with a dancing hooker whose services cost him a paltry five grand a week. But then again there's nothing like a topless cheerleader with a blue M painted between her breasts with a magic marker, especially if she's not wearing any panties underneath her pleated cheerleader skirt. Montez Taylor is Mr. Paradise's chief factotum and gopher. He's black and criminal, a wannabe operator who cruises around the city, acting smooth and slick and he's just been left out of the old man's will. Chloe Robinette is twenty-seven, has a loft on the riverfront she paid $400,000 cash for, back when she hadn't slimmed her client list down to only the spunky Mr. Paradise. Kelly Barr is Chloe's roommate. She's a Victoria's Secret model and just about a dead ringer for blond and blue-eyed Chloe. Chloe recruits Kelly to assist her one night in the cheerleading routine and two hit men hired by Montez, because he's upset about the will thing, crash the party, leaving Paradise and Chloe dead. Fortunately for Kelly she was upstairs with the smooth and slick operator at the time. Montez needs Kelly because Paradiso had signed over some to Chloe that's worth big money and it's lodged in a safe-deposit box in Montez's name. Montez wants Kelly to pose as Chloe, so he can collect on it. Then along comes Homicide detective Frank Delsa who finds himself attracted to Kelly who finds herself attracted to him as well. And so it goes in this rip roaring read that I just loved to pieces. There are many pretenders out there but nobody does Elmer Leonard like Elmer Leonard. He pulls you right into the story, right into the heads of his characters, right out or your problems and cares as you eagerly devour his work and MR. PARADISE is one of his best. Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne
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Summary: Paradise By the Dashboard Light
Review: Anthony Paradiso, Sr. octogenarian trial lawyer and U of M alumnus, meets his maker after a session with Chloe, his $900 an hour call girl. Chloe once tried to buy an actual cheerleader's outfit to help Mr. Paradise get his rocks off. Chloe's efforts at customer service were totally rebuffed by the girls who wear the blue and maize to cheer on the champions of the West and not for the purpose of titillating elderly athletic supporters. But even if you can't buy one, you can have one made which is why Chloe was wearing her pleated skirt sans panties in death. Dutch Leonard takes us on another wild ride through the world of dumb ex-cons, high class hookers, wannabe C.I.s, smarmy defense lawyers, and horny homicide cops to get to the bottom of the perfect crime that wasn't. As always, it's the dialogue that drives the action. No one has a better ear for cop and wise-guy talk than Leonard, who weaves these snippets of conversation into an engrossing tale of perfidy and stupidity.
Rating:
Summary: The master keeps going
Review: Elmore leonard is truly one of the masters of American literature. He ha not slowed down as the years have passed. Mr. paradise is another truley magnetic group of unusual characters whose dialog sounds as if it came from off the streets of Detroit. The homicde cops seem real not cut out of cardboard and glamorized. I highly recommend this book and anything else written by the master.
Rating:
Summary: Leonard on cruise still beats others by a country mile
Review: "'CARL lit a cigarette. He picked up his drink saying, 'This old man isn't a criminal. Avern said we'd be shooting bad guys.'" What a dull place this world would be without Elmore Leonard to liven things up. In the peerless Leonard's blackly comic crime thrillers, felons argue over trifling details, police walk the walk and talk the talk, hired assassins have consciences, and no one is near as clever as they think. It's entertainment for entertainment's sake, a three-ring circus of amorality, with the bestselling author of Out of Sight, Tishomingo Blues and almost three dozen other novels as the ultimate ringmaster. After earning a grand master award from the Mystery Writers of America, Leonard, 78, could almost be excused for sleepwalking his way through a few efforts. Indeed, his latest fiction, Mr. Paradise, is a leisurely stroll in the park for a man of his talents, a slight tale of murder and confusion, almost a romantic comedy rather than a gritty homicide novel. But while the plot may be minor, Leonard is by no means resting on his laurels. Mr. Paradise is Tony Paradiso, an elderly Detroit defence attorney who satisfies his peccadillos by hiring prostitutes to perform cheerleading routines while he views old Michigan football games. Unfortunately, the finale of one such evening leaves two dead bodies, two bewildered hit-men, a wily witness, and one frustrated detective with too much on his plate. As with any Leonard opus, the real draw for fans and newcomers alike is his dialogue, big, crunchy riffs that read like the poetry of the jaded and dispossessed. The hyper-realistic jargon of Leonard's characters (hardly any of which can be reprinted in a family newspaper) careens and rebounds through topics and asides with blistering speed, demanding a fierce attention of the reader to keep up with the plot. While the ultimate story is far from Leonard's finest, it's the path he takes rather than the destination from which the main pleasure of his work is derived. His characters and situations multiply geometrically, taking left turns into subplots and motivations, giving even the most minor player a chance to shine in Leonard's pungent word play. It's also been a while since Leonard set a novel in his home town of Detroit. Mr. Paradise's major drawback is the failure to provide a truly interesting central character. Det. Frank Delsa and his main witness Kelly Barr are charming personalities, but they are insubstantial leads, lacking the force and heft of Leonard's best characters, Chili Palmer from Get Shorty and Max Cherry from Rum Punch. Yet this should not dissuade the uninitiated to step into Leonard's world. The twisting schemes, the slippery oddballs, and the incomparable, oft-imitated but never equalled slang dialogue (an obvious influence on filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who directed arguably the finest Leonard adaptation, Jackie Brown), make his every novel a treat. Mr. Paradise is an ideal primer for the Leonard neophyte, an entryway to a universe of illicit delights and nasty surprises.
Rating:
Summary: We all make mistakes
Review: In this case, the author got paid handsomely for his mistakes, and I paid for mine. I should have read the reader reviews before buying! I love reading Leonard, especially his Detroit stuff, but this was just over the top.
Oh well, when's his next one coming out?
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