Reel Crime

Author Elmore Leonard (“Hombre,” “Glitz,” etc.) tells us he’ll have some fun with Hollywood in his next crime caper, “Get Shorty,” due out this summer from Delacorte Press (and to be excerpted in Rolling Stone). It’s no roman a clef , he insisted, but does draw on his 20 years experience with Tinseltown for “flavor and tone.”

The story: A colorful loan shark from Miami meets a schlock film producer in L.A. who’s got “some serious problems,” eventually involving murder. And “before you know it, the loan shark’s in the picture business. He figures he can do it (be a producer) because nobody’s in charge or knows what they’re doing--that if you’ve got an idea and can get the money, you’re in business.”

At one point, the producer tells an actress that he’s brought the loan shark into the industry. “But he’s a crook!” she exclaims.

“Yeah, he ought to fit right in,” comes the reply.

Look for the Leonard touch in scenes of script meetings, power lunches, and the like.

“I’m not unkind to anyone,” said the easygoing Leonard from his home in Michigan. “I just do it straight, like I always do. You draw your own conclusions.”

However unflattering “Get Shorty” might be to Hollywood, Leonard’s agent is already fielding offers . . . for film rights.