Elmore Leonard's Mr. Paradise

Elmore Leonard's "Mr. Paradise" is a gritty crime novel, that leaves you completely satisfied. With crisp narration and delicious dark dialog, the story told is highly entertaining. Leonard always tells stories that have multidimensional bad guys, morally conflicted good guys, and shady plots that steer away from the norm. Here in "Mr. Paradise" we find all these ingredients, plus a few extra goodies in the mix.


Anthony Paradiso is Mr. Paradise. He is 84 yrs. of age, retired criminal attorney with enough money to pay for all his needs and then some. As a high profile attorney, he made millions. In his luxury he has, a big screen t.v. to view tapes of U of M games, where the Maize and Blue always emerge victorious, an in-house chef named Lloyd, a do it all (servant) named Montez, and a five-thousand-dollar-a-week girlfriend named Chloe. Chloe's duties include (but are by no means limited to) dressing up as a University of Michigan cheerleader and cheering in an unconventional way. One that (if done on T.V.) the FCC would surely have a problem with.

Chloe at one point, recruits Kelly her room mate, to assist her in spicing up the routine. Kelly, is a Victoria Secret model. She reluctantly agrees. On one interesting night to say the least, things go wildly wrong. Here is where we encounter Frank Delsa in a murder investigation, that takes us into the dirty gritty streets of Detroit Michigan.

"A Pair of Ears that Define our Culture"

When you view a great film, you find that in order for it to be considered that, it is essential that it have proper pacing and solid dialog. When it comes to a novel these two things are entirely necessary. The lack of them, can be ultimately detrimental to the whole experience. When reading "Mr. Paradise" however, you can see that the thing that gives it life... is Elmore Leonard perfectly infusing these two aforementioned aspects. In doing that, he created a vivid crime novel that is not only spellbinding and a page turner, but also a journey with a completely satisfying ending.