Pronto is a crime

Crime fiction

Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 written by Elmore Leonard

Elmore Leonard

Elmore John Leonard Jr. , better known as Elmore Leonard, is an American novelist and screenwriter. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.Among his...

. Leonard introduces three main characters and gets them moving against each other. Harry is constantly reminiscing about World War II. Tommy carries a picture of the old crime boss Frank Costello in his wallet. Raylan

Raylan Givens

Raylan Givens is a fictional character created by American novelist and screenwriter Elmore Leonard.Givens is a Deputy U.S. Marshal and initially appeared in the novels Pronto and Riding the Rap. Leonard later penned the short story "Fire in the Hole". which became the basis for the television...

 is a detective cowboy. In addition, the inclusion of the Ezra Pound

Ezra Pound

Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...

 stories add more to the understanding of Harry and his reasons for retiring to Rapallo

Rapallo

Rapallo is a municipality in the province of Genoa, in Liguria, northern Italy. As of 2007 it counts approximately 34,000 inhabitants, it is part of the Tigullio Gulf and is located in between Portofino and Chiavari....

, Italy.

A 1997 made-for-TV version of Pronto starred Peter Falk

Peter Falk

Peter Michael Falk was an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo...

, Glenne Headly

Glenne Headly

Glenne Aimee Headly is an American actress of film, stage and television.-Early life:Glenne Headly was born in New London, Connecticut and her first years were spent living under the care of her mother in San Francisco and her maternal grandmother in Pennsylvania...

 and James LeGros

James LeGros

James LeGros is an American film and television actor. He is known as a star of independent films with a diversified body of work in the early to mid 1990s.-Personal life:...

.

Plot summary

Harry Arno, an over the hill Miami bookmaker quietly lives the good life with his girlfriend, Joyce Patton. Harry skimmed for years from his corpulent mob boss, Jimmy 'Cap' Capotorto and managed to salt away nearly a cool million in a Swiss bank account toward his retirement. Harry wants to retire and move to Rapallo, Italy, dreaming of living an idyllic existence with Joyce in a villa by the sea. In Rapallo he once briefly talked to the poet, Ezra Pound when Harry was in the army and Pound was incarcerated.

Now the Justice Department wants Jimmy Cap so they set up Harry to give information about Cap's activities by putting out the word about his skimming activities. The Justice Department figures that Jimmy Cap will try to have Harry killed, which will force Harry to ask for witness protection and turn evidence against Jimmy Cap. Jimmy sends Harry a message in the form of low-life hit man Earl Crowe but Harry is faster with a gun.

Harry skips his bond and the baby sitting U. S. Marshall

United States Marshals Service

The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...

 and former Marine Raylan Givens

Raylan Givens

Raylan Givens is a fictional character created by American novelist and screenwriter Elmore Leonard.Givens is a Deputy U.S. Marshal and initially appeared in the novels Pronto and Riding the Rap. Leonard later penned the short story "Fire in the Hole". which became the basis for the television...

 for the second time, the first ending when Harry gave Raylan the slip in an Atlanta airport. Harry makes a nostalgic dash for Rapallo. Holed up in a picaresque Italian resort Harry is soon pursued by his ex-stripper girlfriend Joyce. Raylan follows because he seeks to redeem his previous failure to bring Harry in - for him this is a matter of honor. In addition, ‘the Zip’, another mob affiliate, wants to take over Harry's action, so he tells Cap that he'll take out Harry in Italy. If Harry ends up dead, the Zip gets to take over the bookie operation, which is going to mean a lot more money. The Zip who shows his macho stuff back in his homeland and endlessly humiliates ‘Stronzo’ Nicky Testa demonstrates his penchant for violence with a cold bloodied murder. Consequently, Harry has so many people following him that the small village of Rapallo becomes inundated with U. S. mobsters and federal agents. To the aid of Harry comes Robert Gee, a former French foreign legionnaire who helps him defend the villa against all the trigger-happy mobsters. During all of these events, the sixty-six year old Harry starts drinking seriously again which causes the situation to deteriorate even faster. Harry is in real danger of losing his life, as are several of the other players…

Characters in Pronto

• Harry Arno – 60 year old bookie
• Joyce Patton – Harry's girlfriend and former topless dancer
• Robert Gee – Harry's Italian aide and former French foreign legionnairy
• Buck Torres – miami homicide detective
• Raylan Givens
  Raylan Givens
  Raylan Givens is a fictional character created by American novelist and screenwriter Elmore Leonard.Givens is a Deputy U.S. Marshal and initially appeared in the novels Pronto and Riding the Rap. Leonard later penned the short story "Fire in the Hole". which became the basis for the television...
  
  – U.S. Marshall and former Marine.
• Jimmy 'Cap' Capotorto – miami wiseguy
• Earl Crowe – miami hitman
• Tommy Bitoniti – Tommy Bucks – 'the Zip' – Detroit wiseguy and Jimmy Cap's main enforcer
• Nicky Testa – Jimmy Cap's assistant
• Fabrizio – Italian wiseguy
• Nicky – Italian wiseguy
• Benno – Italian wiseguy

External links

• Pronto at ElmoreLeonard.com