As of today, there are 21 ships being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia. That’s the stretch of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean leading into and out of the Suez Canal, so it’s a pretty busy piece of water. About 22,000 ships cross it every year. Billions of dollars worth of cargo. Hundreds of billions of dollars, quite possibly. Tempting targets for people with guns, boats and little to lose.

The Somali pirates are the focus of the main character, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, in Elmore Leonard’s new book “Djibouti.” Kai Ryssdal spoke to Leonard about the book. They also talk about why he’s drawn to bad guys (they’re not all bad, especially if they’re played by George Clooney) and why he probably won’t write a crime novel about Wall Street anytime soon.