PRONTO, by Elmore Leonard, Delacorte Press, 265 pages, $21.95.

“And for what it’s worth, I have my background;

And you have your background.”

— from “Three Cantos,” by Ezra Pound

Harry Arno, if he could fit, could jump feet first into a time capsule and be pulled out a billion years or so from now, the quintessential Elmore Leonard character, spitting and spewing out the familiar street lingo that has endeared him to millions of readers of crime fiction for 20 years.

Arno, the self-proclaimed bad-guy bookie from Miami Beach, is Leonard’s latest protagonist in a long list of antagonistic thugs who have adorned the pages of such classics as “Swag,” “Kill-shot” and “Get Shorty.”

Once the noted author made the transition from a mediocre writer of Westerns to a writer extraordinaire of the slimy, seedy types, he established himself as a cult hero, and his latest installment, “Pronto,” will do little to diminish a reputation long on crisp, snappy dialogue and short on subplot and mystery.

This Arno character is up to his light fingertips in trouble from the mob, a mob, I might add, that has helped him gross about $7,000 a week running a sports book out of three locations in South Miami Beach. The problem for Harry is that he has been keeping a little on the side for himself — quite a little, in fact.

Combine his skimming ways with the fact that his boss is none other than the renowned wise guy Jimmy Capotorto — Jimmy Cap for short — and you’ve got the makings of some real trouble for Harry.

Arno is all set to retire to Italy with his girlfriend, Joyce, when he gets caught up as the patsy in an FBI assault on organized crime. Poor Harry. He never had a chance.

Throw in U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens and some past poop on Harry that tightens even further the noose around the bookie’s neck, and you’ve got a chase that’s sure to please. Flavor all of this good stuff with Harry’s obsession with poet Ezra Pound, a man he supposedly met while serving in the U.S. Army in 1945, and whose home of Rapallo, Italy, just happens to be the spot Harry chooses for hiding from the mob, and you have vintage Elmore Leonard.

Stir up this mixture with Givens’ crush on Harry’s girlfriend and a few more thugs such as a real heavy named The Zip, for special effect, and the pages will turn ever so quickly.

Few authors have captured the real spirit of the underworld better than Leonard. Look for this one not only to jump high on the best-seller lists, but also to appear at a theater near you in the not-too-distant future as another Leonard novel turned featured film.

Ron Brown is a free-lance writer who lives in Bangor.