Get Shorty, by Elmore Leonard (Penguin, £5.99 in UK)

The ultra-cool movie version is on the way, courtesy of the Dublin Film Festival, but Leonard's bleak black comedy about a Miami mobster who decides to hang out in Hollywood for a while is already a classic of its kind and should, be perused on paper for maximum effect. A plot so complex it makes Chandler look like an unravelled sweater, merciless rat-a-tat dialogue and a priceless assortment of weirdos, not to mention the inimitable Chili Palmer, debt collector and part-time movie producer. Get home, get the phone off the hook, get into it.