Pronto was published by Delacorte Press in 1993. Harry Arno, a Miami bookmaker, skims from his Mafia employers and flees to Rapallo, Italy — the same coastal town where Ezra Pound lived and wrote the early Cantos. Harry is obsessed with Pound (an unlikely literary interest for a bookie), and the novel’s Italian sections are infused with Harry’s half-understood engagement with modernist poetry.
This novel introduces Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, who would later become the protagonist of Riding the Rap (1995) and the television series Justified (2010–2015), making Givens one of Leonard’s most commercially significant creations.
Harry Arno and Ezra Pound
The Pound connection is one of Leonard’s most audacious conceits. Harry Arno, a man whose life has been devoted to gambling and money, has developed a genuine, if somewhat confused, passion for Pound’s Cantos — the most difficult long poem of the twentieth century. His escape to Rapallo, where Pound lived from 1924 to 1945, allows Leonard to juxtapose the world of organized crime with the world of high modernism. Harry’s engagement with Pound is neither satirised nor sentimentalised; Leonard treats it as simply another dimension of a complex character.
The Birth of Raylan Givens
Raylan Givens arrives in Pronto as a supporting character — the marshal assigned to protect Harry. He is immediately distinctive: a Kentucky good-old-boy with a cowboy hat and a quick draw, whose politeness masks a willingness to kill that surprises everyone who mistakes his manners for weakness. Leonard based Givens partly on real U.S. Marshals he had interviewed and partly on the Western heroes of his earlier fiction.
Collecting Pronto
First edition (1993, Delacorte Press, New York): Boards with dust jacket.
Approximate market values:
- Fine/Fine in dust jacket: $50–$150
- Signed first edition: $100–$400
- Without jacket: $10–$20
Value trajectory (2016–2026): Strong appreciation, driven by Justified’s cult following. As the first Raylan Givens novel, its bibliographic importance exceeds its literary reputation.
Projected values (2026–2036): Continued strong demand. Signed copies should reach $300–$800.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to read this before Justified? The show took Raylan’s character and transplanted him into an original Harlan County setting. Pronto provides the character’s origin but is not necessary for enjoying the show. It is, however, a very good novel in its own right.
Is the Ezra Pound material accurate? Leonard researched Pound’s Rapallo years carefully. The biographical details are accurate; Harry’s literary interpretations are deliberately amateurish — which is part of the charm.