Protagonists in 'Women' project cool throughout

By Connor Ennis
Associated Press

•	"When the Women Come Out to Dance" by Elmore Leonard; Morrow, hardback, $24.95

Leonard is about everyday, understated cool, and his story collection, "When the Women Come Out to Dance," pulses with it.

In nine short stories, Leonard calls on unexpected protagonists — immigrant maids, retired bull riders, even denizens of a sleepy retirement community — to project the intelligent cool that is his trademark.

Which is not to say that all the stories are great. However, all keep the reader's attention. Leonard creates characters so charming, interesting and, yes, cool, that it's almost impossible to part from them once a story has been started. These characters are always one sentence away from doing the unexpected, as their usually cool demeanors allow them to mask their feelings.

Though Leonard's stories are, for the most part, dialogue-driven, much of the action is propelled by that which isn't stated — one person reading another's body language or saying one thing when another is meant. And his unflinching eye for details and sharp ear for dialogue allow his characters to be quickly developed and realized.

In the story "Fire in the Hole," Ava describes shooting and killing her abusive husband and then having to deal with cleaning up the mess.

"I cleaned it up good. Had to scrub the wall there with Lysol to get, you know, the stains off it. I think Lysol's the best cleaning product you can buy."

It's impossible not to be fascinated by a character who mixes cleanliness with murder (and product endorsement).

While several of the stories — "Fire in the Hole," "Karen Makes Out," "Tenkiller" and the title story — are to some degree violent, the collection itself is not. Leonard seems more concerned with the tension that precedes an act, whether it's violent, sexual or social.

The story "Sparks" bristles with sexual tension as an insurance investigator questions a rich young widow about the fire that destroyed her husband's home, filled with Asian antiques that she despised. It holds the attention every bit as much as "Tenkiller," which pits a bull rider turned Hollywood stunt man against a family of truck hijackers who have been secretly using his land as a base of operations.

Not all the stories are as gripping as those, however. "Chickasaw Charlie Hoke" is a comic tale of a former baseball player trying to trade on what little celebrity he has, and "Hanging Out at the Buena Vista" is about two residents of a retirement community who aren't ready to give up on living.

Leonard has missteps — the title story and "Karen Makes Out" feel underdeveloped — but he never fails to arouse reader interest. His stories are cool, and readers will feel good just being around them.