Tishomingo Blues
By Elmore Leonard
Morrow, $25.95
ISBN 0060008725

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Taking a dive into murky waters

Tishomingo Blues is Elmore Leonard's 37th novel; by now, the man knows how to spin a yarn. This one, set in Tunica, Mississippi, finds him doing what he does best -- crafting killer dialogue.

The story centers on traveling high diver Dennis Lenahan, who sets up shop -- a pool and an 80-foot ladder -- at a casino resort. Before he can even test the waters, Dennis witnesses a murder.

The two killers, a couple of knucklehead rednecks in bad hats, know he saw them. But on the advice of the resort's "celebrity host," Charlie, Dennis figures they'll leave him alone if he keeps his mouth shut. Charlie, the novel's main source of comic relief, can't stop talking about his glory days as a major-league pitcher, even when he's supposed to be emceeing Dennis' high-dive act. Then there's Robert, a slick, handsome black guy in a black Jaguar, who rolls into town for mysterious reasons. Robert's easy charm and skill at spinning lies into gold are matched only by Dennis' talent for arcing his Speedo-clad body through the air and into the teacup-size pool, and the two men quickly develop a friendship based on mutual admiration.

Throw in some moonshine, a bunch of trigger-happy racists, a Detroit mobster with a model wife and an elaborate Civil War battle re-enactment, and you're up to here in classic Elmore Leonard material.

Even his less-stellar novels bear the marks of the master: pitch-perfect dialogue, eccentric characters and punctuation-flouting sentences that meander with improbable grace. Leonard bends words to his will with no regard for the indignant harrumphs of English teachers everywhere. In one exchange between two crooks about their recently paroled buddy's dog, he writes:

"The dog'll tear the throat out of anybody looks at her cross. . . ."

"What kind of dog is it?"

"Farm dog. Kinda white and brown has some setter in her."

"I didn't know Eugene was out till I run into him. He says yeah, a couple months. Did you know the dorms at Delta Correctional are air-conditioned? I couldn't believe it."

"That's account of it's private-run."

This is how people really talk. And, along with some of Leonard's coolest characters yet, it's what makes this novel sing.

Becky Ohlsen is a writer in Portland, Oregon.