DETROIT (AP) ― Acclaimed crime novelist Elmore Leonard is recovering at a U.S. hospital following a stroke last week.

Leonard’s longtime researcher, Gregg Sutter, said Tuesday that family members are guardedly optimistic about the 87-year-old’s condition.

Leonard has written 45 Westerns, crime novels and mysteries. Sutter says Leonard has been at work on No. 46.

Many of his books ― notably “Out of Sight,” “Get Shorty” and “Be Cool” ― have become films. “Life of Crime,” which is based on Leonard’s “The Switch,” is to be screened at the Toronto Film Festival next month.