Crime Writer Elmore Leonard Dies at 87

Elmore Leonard, the crime writer known for Out of Sight and Get Shorty, died this morning at 7:15 a.m, according to an announcement on his website. Leonard, who was 87, suffered from a stroke earlier in August, but it's unclear whether this was related to his death.

During his lifetime, Leonard published more than 40 novels, several of which were adapted for TV. Though his fiction may have made his name, Leonard was also famous for his seminal "Ten Rules of Writing", in which he laid out the thinking behind his lean prose style. (Remember all the times you got slapped on the wrist for your excessive use of exclamation points? This guy.) His ultimate rule: "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."

News of the novelist's death has prompted a flurry of tweets from the literary world:

You'll be missed, Elmore Leonard. We're turning on some Justified here in the office in your honor.