Maximum Bob was published by Delacorte Press in 1991. Judge Bob Gibbs — “Maximum Bob” — hands down the harshest sentences in Palm Beach County. Someone drops an alligator in his backyard, and probation officer Kathy Baker is assigned to investigate whether one of the judge’s former defendants is responsible. Meanwhile, Bob’s wife Leanne believes she channels the spirit of a twelve-year-old slave girl named Wanda Grace.
The novel is Leonard’s most satirical, a comedy of manners set in the Florida judiciary, and it demonstrates his increasing interest in characters who are absurd without being cartoons.
Kathy Baker and the Leonard Heroine
Kathy Baker, the probation officer, is one of Leonard’s best female protagonists. She is smart, professional, and unintimidated by the men around her — a pattern Leonard would perfect with Karen Sisco in Out of Sight. Her investigation takes her through the overlapping worlds of the Florida judiciary, the criminal underclass, and the peculiar subculture of Palm Beach County, where New Age spiritualism coexists with good-old-boy politics.
The Southern Gothic Element
Leanne’s channelling of Wanda Grace — whether genuine, delusional, or performed — gives the novel a Southern Gothic dimension unusual for Leonard. The sessions are simultaneously funny and unsettling, and Leonard never resolves the question of whether Leanne is genuinely possessed or simply mad. This ambiguity gives the novel a texture that pure crime fiction rarely achieves.
Collecting Maximum Bob
First edition (1991, Delacorte Press, New York): Boards with dust jacket.
Approximate market values:
- Fine/Fine in dust jacket: $30–$75
- Signed first edition: $75–$200
- Without jacket: $5–$15
Value trajectory (2016–2026): Minimal. A minor Leonard title in collector terms.
Projected values (2026–2036): Modest. Signed copies should reach $150–$400.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was this adapted? A short-lived ABC television series ran for seven episodes in 1998, starring Beau Bridges as Bob Gibbs. It was cancelled quickly. The novel’s blend of satire and crime was difficult to translate to network television.
Where does this rank among Leonard’s novels? It is a second-tier Leonard — not as iconic as Get Shorty or Out of Sight, but more ambitious and stranger than many of the formulaic crime novels of the early 1990s. Its combination of judicial satire, Southern Gothic, and crime fiction makes it one of Leonard’s most distinctive books.