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Donald E. Westlake

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Donald E. Westlake
Westlake at home in the 1980s
Westlake at home in the 1980s
BornDonald Edwin Westlake
(1933-07-12)July 12, 1933
New York City, U.S.
DiedDecember 31, 2008(2008-12-31) (aged 75)
Mexico
Pen nameJohn B. Allan, Judson Jack Carmichael, Curt Clark, Timothy J. Culver, J. Morgan Cunningham, Richard Stark, Edwin West, among others
OccupationNovelist
Genrecrime fiction
Notable worksParker series, John Dortmunder series, God Save the Mark, screenplay for The Grifters
Notable awardsEdgar Awards for Best Novel (1968), Best Short Story (1990) and Best Motion Picture Screenplay (1991)
Mystery Writers of America Grand Master (1993)
Signature

Donald Edwin Westlake (July 12, 1933 – December 31, 2008) was an American writer with more than one hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction and other genres. Westlake created two professional criminal characters who each starred in a long-running series: the relentless, hardboiled Parker (published under the pen name Richard Stark), and John Dortmunder, who featured in a more humorous series.[1]

He was a three-time Edgar Award winner and, alongside Joe Gores and William L. DeAndrea, was one of few writers to win Edgars in three different categories (1968, Best Novel, God Save the Mark; 1990, Best Short Story, "Too Many Crooks"; 1991, Best Motion Picture Screenplay, The Grifters). In 1993, the Mystery Writers of America named Westlake a Grand Master, the highest honor bestowed by the society.[2]

Personal life

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Westlake was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Lillian (Bounds) and Albert Joseph Westlake,[3] and was raised in Albany, New York.

Westlake wrote constantly in his teens, and after 200 rejections, his first short story sale was in 1954. Sporadic short story sales followed over the next few years, while Westlake attended Champlain College (a now defunct college created in the post WWII GI Bill boom) of Plattsburgh, New York,[4] and Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York. He also spent two years in the United States Air Force.

Westlake moved to New York City in 1959, initially to work for a literary agency while writing on the side. By 1960, he was writing full-time. His first novel under his own name, The Mercenaries, was published in 1960; over the next 48 years, Westlake published a variety of novels and short stories under his own name and a number of pseudonyms.

He was married three times, the final time to Abigail Westlake (also known as Abby Adams Westlake and Abby Adams), a writer of nonfiction (her two published books are An Uncommon Scold and The Gardener's Gripe Book). The couple moved from New York City to Ancram in upstate New York in 1990.

Westlake died of a heart attack on December 31, 2008, while on the way to a New Year's Eve dinner in Mexico, where he and his wife were on vacation.[5]

Pseudonyms

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In addition to writing consistently under his own name, Westlake published under several pseudonyms.[6] In the order they debuted:

  • Rolfe Passer: An early Westlake story was published under this name in Mystery Digest in 1958. Rolfe Passer was actually the assistant editor of the magazine at the time. It is not known why the story was published under Passer's name; frequent Westlake collaborator Lawrence Block has suggested "editorial incompetence".
  • Richard Stark: Westlake's best-known continuing pseudonym was that of Richard Stark. The Stark pseudonym was notable both for the sheer amount of writing credited to it (far more than any other except Westlake's real name itself), as well as for Stark's particular style of writing, which was colder, darker, less sentimental, and less overtly humorous than Westlake's usual prose. For a period in the late 1960s, the popularity of the Parker series made Stark's name more well-known and more lucrative for Westlake than his real name. According to Westlake, he chose the name "Richard Stark" for actor Richard Widmark, whose performance in the film Kiss of Death impressed Westlake: "part of the character's fascination and danger is his unpredictability. He's fast and mean, and that's what I wanted the writing to be: crisp and lean, no fat, trimmed down ... stark." Westlake described the difference between Stark's style and his usual style in a 2001 article for the New York Times Book Review: "Stark and Westlake use language very differently. To some extent they're mirror images. Westlake is allusive, indirect, referential, a bit rococo. Stark strips his sentences down to the necessary information."[7] Stark debuted in 1959, with a story in Mystery Digest.[8] Four other Stark short stories followed through 1961, including "The Curious Facts Preceding My Execution",[8] later the title story in Westlake's first short-story collection. Then, from 1962 to 1974, sixteen novels about the relentless and remorseless professional thief Parker and his accomplices (including larcenous actor Alan Grofield) appeared and were credited to Richard Stark. After Butcher's Moon in 1974, Westlake unexpectedly found himself unable to tap into what he called Stark's "personality." Despite repeated attempts to bring him back, Westlake was unsatisfied. Years later, when Westlake had been hired to write the screenplay for The Grifters, director Stephen Frears was so impressed by its lean, cold attitude that he insisted that the screenplay had been written by Stark, not Westlake, and even tried to get Stark's name officially credited as the writer. Westlake said that "I got out of that one by explaining Richard Stark wasn't a member of the Writer's Guild. I don't think he's a joiner, actually." Stark was inactive until 1997, when Westlake once again began writing and publishing Parker novels under Stark's name beginning with Comeback. The University of Chicago began republishing the Richard Stark novels in 2008.[9]
  • Alan Marshall (or Alan Marsh): Westlake acknowledged writing as many as 28 paperback soft-porn titles from 1959 to 1964 under these names; titles include All My Lovers, Man Hungry, All About Annette, Sally, Virgin's Summer, Call Me Sinner, Off Limits, and three featuring the character of Phil Crawford: Apprentice Virgin, All the Girls Were Willing, and Sin Prowl.[10] Westlake was not the only author to work under Marshall's name, claiming: "The publishers would either pay more for the names they already knew or would only buy from (those) names…so it became common practice for several of us to loan our names to friends…. Before…the end of 1961…six other people, friends of mine, published books as Alan Marshall, with my permission but without the publishers' knowledge." Two novels published in 1960 by Midwood Books were co-authored by Westlake and Lawrence Block (who used the pen-name "Sheldon Lord") and were credited to "Sheldon Lord and Alan Marshall": A Girl Called Honey, dedicated to Westlake and Block, and So Willing, dedicated to "Nedra and Loretta," who were (at that time) Westlake and Block's wives.[10]
  • James Blue: one-shot pseudonym, used as a third name circa 1959 when both Westlake and Stark already had stories in a magazine issue. In actuality, the name of Westlake's cat.[11]
  • Ben Christopher: one-shot pseudonym for a 1960 story in 77 Sunset Strip magazine, based on the characters from the TV show of the same name.[8]
  • John Dexter: a house pseudonym used by Nightstand Books for the work of numerous authors. The very first novel credited to John Dexter is a soft-core work by Westlake called No Longer A Virgin (1960)
  • Andrew Shaw: pseudonym used by Westlake and Lawrence Block for their 1961 collaborative soft-core novel Sin Hellcat. Like John Dexter (above), "Andrew Shaw" was a house pseudonym used by a wide variety of authors.
  • Edwin West: Brother and Sister, Campus Doll, Young and Innocent, all 1961; Strange Affair, 1962; Campus Lovers, 1963,[6] one 1966 short story.[8]
  • John B. Allan: Elizabeth Taylor: A Fascinating Story of America's Most Talented Actress and the World's Most Beautiful Woman, 1961, biography.[6]
  • Don Holliday: pseudonym used by Westlake for two collaborative soft-core novels (with various authors, including Hal Dresner and Lawrence Block) in 1963/64.[10]
  • Curt Clark: debuted in 1964 with the short story "Nackles". Novel: Anarchaos, 1967, science fiction.[6]
  • Barbara Wilson: one co-authored novel with Laurence Janifer (The Pleasures We Know, 1964); Janifer also used this name for at least one solo novel with no involvement from Westlake.[6]
  • Tucker Coe: five mystery novels featuring the character of Mitch Tobin: Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death, 1966; Murder Among Children, 1967; Wax Apple and A Jade in Aries, both 1970; Don't Lie to Me, 1972.[6]
  • P. N. Castor: pseudonym used for one 1966 short story co-authored with Dave Foley.[8]
  • Timothy J. Culver: Ex Officio, 1970, thriller.[6]
  • J. Morgan Cunningham: Comfort Station, 1971, humor. Cover features the blurb, "I wish I had written this book! – Donald E. Westlake."[6]
  • Samuel Holt: four mystery novels featuring the character of Sam Holt, 1986-1989: One of Us is Wrong and I Know a Trick Worth Two of That, both 1986; What I Tell You Three Times is False, 1987; The Fourth Dimension is Death, 1989.[6] Westlake used the Holt pseudonym as an experiment to see if he could succeed as an author under a new name; he was dismayed when his publisher revealed the true identity of "Holt" simultaneously with the release of the first book. Westlake subsequently delivered all four books he had contracted for as Holt, but abandoned plans to write at least two further books in the series.
  • Judson Jack Carmichael: The Scared Stiff, 2002, mystery; UK editions dropped the pseudonym.

Westlake sometimes made playful use of his pseudonyms in his work:

  • John Dortmunder and associates plan a kidnapping based on a mythical Richard Stark/Parker novel in Westlake's Jimmy The Kid. Stark himself makes an appearance in the novel.
  • Richard Stark's character of Parker has ID that gives his name as "John B. Allan".
  • In the film version of The Grifters (for which Westlake wrote the screenplay), a key scene takes place at the firm of Stark, Coe and Fellows. Westlake explains the in-joke in the film's DVD commentary track, noting that he wrote books as "Richard Stark, Tucker Coe and some other fellows." Westlake had been asked to write the script for The Grifters using the pen-name "Richard Stark" as an in-joke, but insisted on using his own name.
  • A character in Timothy J. Culver's Ex Officio works for Coe-Stark Associates.
  • In the Mitch Tobin novel A Jade in Aries, Tobin phones a friend, who briefly mistakes Tobin for somebody named Don Stark.

Additionally, Westlake conducted a mock "interview" with Richard Stark, Tucker Coe and Timothy J. Culver in an article for the non-fiction book Murder Ink: The Mystery Reader's Companion.

Writing style

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Donald Westlake was known for the great ingenuity of his plots and the audacity of his gimmicks. Westlake's most famous characters include the hard-boiled criminal Parker (appearing in fiction published under the Richard Stark pseudonym) and Parker's comic flip-side John Dortmunder. Westlake was quoted as saying that he originally intended what became The Hot Rock to be a straightforward Parker novel, but "It kept turning funny," and thus became the first John Dortmunder novel.

Most of Donald Westlake's novels are set in New York City. In each of the Dortmunder novels, there is typically a foray into a particular city neighborhood. He wrote just two non-fiction books: Under an English Heaven, regarding the unlikely 1967 Anguillan "revolution", and a biography of Elizabeth Taylor.[6]

Westlake was an occasional contributor to science fiction fanzines such as Xero, and used Xero as a venue for a harsh announcement that he was leaving the science fiction field.[12]

Literary crossovers

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Westlake and Joe Gores wrote the same encounter between two of their characters from different perspectives in two different novels. In chapter 18 of Gores' 1972 novel Dead Skip, San Francisco detective Dan Kearney meets Westlake's amoral thief Parker while looking for one of Parker's associates. The sequence is described from Parker's viewpoint in the 1972 book Plunder Squad, which Westlake wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark. Gores hints further at the connection between the two books by referring to Parker's associates as "the plunder squad." Additionally, earlier in the novel, the book's protagonist Larry Ballard is described as being a reader only of Richard Stark novels.[13]

Gores and Westlake also wrote a shared chapter in Westlake's Drowned Hopes and Gores' 32 Cadillacs, having the characters in those books influenced by the same event.[14][15]

Motion pictures and television

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Several of Westlake's novels have been made into motion pictures: 1967's Point Blank (based on The Hunter) with Lee Marvin as Parker (changed to Walker); Mise à sac [fr] (based on The Score) with Michel Constantin as Parker (changed to Georges), also in 1967; 1968's The Split (from the book The Seventh) with Jim Brown as Parker (changed to McClain); The Hot Rock in 1972 with Robert Redford; Cops and Robbers in 1973; The Outfit with Robert Duvall as Parker (changed to Macklin), also in 1973; Bank Shot in 1974 with George C. Scott; The Busy Body (with an "all-star cast") in 1967; Slayground with Peter Coyote as Parker (changed to Stone) in 1983; Why Me? with Christopher Lambert, Christopher Lloyd, and J. T. Walsh in 1990; Payback in 1999, the second film made from The Hunter, with Mel Gibson as Parker (changed to Porter); What's the Worst That Could Happen? in 2001 with Martin Lawrence as Dortmunder (changed to Kevin Caffery); Constantin Costa-Gavras adapted The Ax for the European screen in 2005, to great critical and public acclaim – entitled Le Couperet, the film takes place in France and Belgium rather than the novel's setting of New England; Parker in 2013, based on Flashfire, with Jason Statham as Parker.

In his introduction to one of the short stories in Thieves' Dozen, Westlake mentioned legal troubles with Hollywood over his continued use of the Dortmunder novel characters; the movie studios attempted to assert that he had sold the rights to the characters to them permanently as a result of the Redford film.[citation needed]

The novel Jimmy the Kid has been adapted three times: in Italy as Come ti rapisco il pupo [it] in 1976; in the U.S. as Jimmy the Kid in 1982, starring Gary Coleman; and in Germany as Jimmy the Kid in 1998, starring Herbert Knaup.[citation needed]

The novel Two Much! has been adapted twice: in France as Le Jumeau (The Twin) in 1984; and in the U.S. as Two Much in 1995, starring Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith.[citation needed]

Jean-Luc Godard's Made in U.S.A. in 1966 was an extremely loose adaptation of The Jugger. Neither the film's producer nor Godard purchased the rights to the novel, so Westlake successfully sued to prevent the film's commercial distribution in the United States.[citation needed]

His novel Memory, published posthumously in 2010, was adapted into the upcoming film The Actor, directed by Duke Johnson and starring André Holland and Gemma Chan.[16][17]

Westlake was himself a screenwriter. His script for the 1990 film The Grifters, adapted from the novel by Jim Thompson, was nominated for an Academy Award. Westlake adapted Jim Thompson's work in a straightforward manner, but Westlake the humourist played on Thompson's name later that year in the Dortmunder novel Drowned Hopes by featuring a character named "Tom Jimson" who is a criminal psychopath. Westlake also wrote the screenplay for the film The Stepfather (from a story by Westlake, Brian Garfield and Carolyn Lefcourt), which was popular enough to inspire two sequels and a remake, projects in which Westlake was not involved.[citation needed]

In 1987 Westlake wrote the teleplay Fatal Confession, a pilot for the TV series Father Dowling Mysteries based on the novels by Ralph McInerny. He also appeared in a small role (as the mystery writer Rich Vincent) in the third-season episode, "The Hardboiled Mystery."[citation needed]

Westlake wrote an early draft of the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, which was later scrapped because of difficulties in filming in the script's original setting in China. Westlake adapted the script into the novel Forever and a Death, which was published posthumously in 2017 by Hard Case Crime.[18]

Westlake wrote an unproduced screenplay adapting the Dashiell Hammett crime novel Red Harvest, which changed the story considerably to refocus the ending on solving the original murder for which the detective had been hired, which is solved relatively early in the original book and which Westlake felt made the detective's continuing involvement in the story hard to justify.[18]

Westlake co-wrote the story for the pilot of the ill-fated 1979 TV series Supertrain with teleplay writer Earl W. Wallace; Westlake and Wallace shared "created by" credit.[citation needed]

In 2022, Variety (magazine) reported that Robert Downey, Jr. and Shane Black were working together on multiple movie and television projects for Amazon Studios based on the Parker series.[19]

An adaptation of Westlake's novel The Ax is currently in production by the South Korean director Park Chan-Wook under the title No Other Choice.[20]

Works

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Novels

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The following table can be sorted to show Westlake's novels in chronological order,
or arranged alphabetically by title, or by publisher, or by author credit, or by series.
Year Title Publisher Author Credit Series Notes
1959 All My Lovers Midwood Books Alan Marshall
1959 Backstage Love Midwood Books Alan Marshall Phil Crawford Also published as Apprentice Virgin
1959 Man Hungry Midwood Books Alan Marshall
1959 Sally Midwood Books Alan Marshall
1960 All About Annette Midwood Books Alan Marshall
1960 All the Girls Were Willing Midwood Books Alan Marshall Phil Crawford Later printed as What Girls Will Do
1960 A Girl Called Honey Midwood Books Alan Marshall & Sheldon Lord A collaboration between Westlake and Lawrence Block
1960 The Mercenaries Random House Donald E. Westlake Also published in the UK as The Smashers. Republished in 2009 under Westlake's preferred title, The Cutie.
1960 So Willing Midwood Books Alan Marshall & Sheldon Lord A collaboration between Westlake and Lawrence Block
1960 Virgin's Summer Midwood Books Alan Marshall
1960 The Wife Next Door Midwood Books Alan Marshall
1961 Call Me Sinner Nightstand Books Alan Marshall
1961 Passion's Plaything Bedside Books Alan Marshall
1961 Off Limits Bedside Books Alan Marshall
1961 Brother and Sister Monarch Books Edwin West
1961 Campus Doll Monarch Books Edwin West
1960 Young and Innocent Monarch Books Edwin West
1961 Killing Time Random House Donald E. Westlake Later published by Blackbird Books as The Operator in 2023.
1962 The Hunter Pocket Books Richard Stark Parker Later published as Point Blank and Payback. First appearance of master thief Parker.
1962 361 Random House Donald E. Westlake
1962 Strange Affair Monarch Books Edwin West
1963 Killy Random House Donald E. Westlake
1963 Sin Prowl Corinth Publications Alan Marshall Phil Crawford
1963 Campus Lovers Monarch Books Edwin West
1963 The Man with the Getaway Face Pocket Books Richard Stark Parker Also published in the UK as Steel Hit.
1963 The Outfit Pocket Books Richard Stark Parker
1963 The Mourner Pocket Books Richard Stark Parker
1963 The Score Pocket Books Richard Stark Parker Also published in the UK as Killtown.
1964 Pity Him Afterwards Random House Donald E. Westlake
1965 The Fugitive Pigeon Random House Donald E. Westlake
1965 The Jugger Pocket Books Richard Stark Parker
1966 The Seventh Pocket Books Richard Stark Parker Later published as The Split.
1966 The Busy Body Random House Donald E. Westlake
1966 The Handle Pocket Books Richard Stark Parker Also published in the UK as Run Lethal.
1966 The Spy in the Ointment Random House Donald E. Westlake
1966 Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death Random House Tucker Coe Mitchell Tobin
1967 Murder Among Children Random House Tucker Coe Mitchell Tobin
1967 The Damsel Macmillan Publishers Richard Stark Grofield
1967 The Rare Coin Score Fawcett Books Richard Stark Parker
1967 God Save the Mark Random House Donald E. Westlake Edgar Award winner for Best Novel
1967 Philip Thomas Y. Crowell Co. Donald E. Westlake
1967 Anarchaos Ace Books Curt Clark
1967 The Green Eagle Score Fawcett Books Richard Stark Parker
1968 Who Stole Sassi Manoon? Random House Donald E. Westlake
1968 The Black Ice Score Fawcett Books Richard Stark Parker
1969 The Sour Lemon Score Fawcett Books Richard Stark Parker
1969 Somebody Owes Me Money Random House Donald E. Westlake
1969 Up Your Banners Lancer Books Donald E. Westlake
1969 The Dame Macmillan Publishers Richard Stark Grofield
1969 The Blackbird Macmillan Publishers Richard Stark Grofield
1970 Wax Apple Random House Tucker Coe Mitchell Tobin
1970 The Hot Rock Simon & Schuster Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder Originally planned as a non-comic Parker novel; introduces John Dortmunder
1970 Ex Officio M. Evans Timothy J. Culver Also published under the title Power Play.
1970 Adios Scheherazade Simon & Schuster Donald E. Westlake Builds on Westlake's experiences writing soft-core porn.
1970 A Jade in Aries Random House Tucker Coe Mitchell Tobin
1971 Lemons Never Lie World Publishing Company Richard Stark Grofield
1971 I Gave at the Office Simon & Schuster Donald E. Westlake
1971 Deadly Edge Random House Richard Stark Parker
1971 Slayground Random House Richard Stark Parker
1972 Bank Shot Simon & Schuster Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder
1972 Cops and Robbers M. Evans Donald E. Westlake
1972 Don't Lie to Me Random House Tucker Coe Mitchell Tobin
1972 Plunder Squad Random House Richard Stark Parker Crosses over with the 1972 Joe Gores novel Dead Skip
1973 Comfort Station Signet Books J. Morgan Cunningham
1973 Gangway! M. Evans Donald E. Westlake and Brian Garfield
1974 Butcher's Moon Random House Richard Stark Parker
1974 Help, I Am Being Held Prisoner M. Evans Donald E. Westlake
1974 Jimmy the Kid M. Evans Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder Includes chapters from an otherwise non-existent novel by Richard Stark entitled Child Heist.
1975 Two Much M. Evans Donald E. Westlake
1975 Brothers Keepers M. Evans Donald E. Westlake
1976 Dancing Aztecs M. Evans Donald E. Westlake A shortened version, lacking one of the sub-plots, was published in 1976 as A New York Dance
1977 Nobody's Perfect M. Evans Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder
1980 Castle in the Air M. Evans Donald E. Westlake
1981 Kahawa Viking Press Donald E. Westlake
1983 Why Me? Viking Press Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder
1984 A Likely Story Penzler Books Donald E. Westlake
1985 High Adventure Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake
1985 Good Behavior Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder
1986 One of Us Is Wrong Tor Books Samuel Holt Sam Holt
1986 I Know a Trick Worth Two of That Tor Books Samuel Holt Sam Holt
1987 What I Tell You Three Times Is False Tom Doherty Associates Samuel Holt Sam Holt
1988 Trust Me on This Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake Sara Joslyn
1989 Sacred Monster Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake
1989 The Fourth Dimension Is Death Tom Doherty Associates Samuel Holt Sam Holt
1990 Drowned Hopes Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder Crosses over with the 1992 Joe Gores novel 32 Cadillacs
1991 The Perfect Murder: Five Great Mystery Writers Create the Perfect Crime HarperCollins Jack Hitt with Lawrence Block,
Sarah Caudwell, Tony Hillerman,
Peter Lovesey, Donald E. Westlake 		Collaborative novel, devised and edited by Hitt. Westlake contributes two chapters.
1992 Humans Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake
1993 Don't Ask Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder
1994 Baby, Would I Lie? Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake Sara Joslyn
1995 Smoke Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake
1996 What's the Worst That Could Happen? Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder
1997 The Ax Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake
1997 Comeback Mysterious Press Richard Stark Parker
1998 Backflash Mysterious Press Richard Stark Parker
2000 The Hook Warner Books Donald E. Westlake Published in the UK as Corkscrew
2000 Flashfire Mysterious Press Richard Stark Parker Also published as Parker, movie tie-in[21]
2001 Firebreak Warner Books Richard Stark Parker
2001 Bad News Warner Books Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder
2002 Put a Lid on It Warner Books Donald E. Westlake
2002 Breakout Mysterious Press Richard Stark Parker
2002 The Scared Stiff Carroll & Graf Publishers Judson Jack Carmichael Published in the UK as by Donald E. Westlake
2003 Money for Nothing Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake
2004 The Road to Ruin Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder
2004 Nobody Runs Forever Mysterious Press Richard Stark Parker
2005 Watch Your Back! Mysterious Press Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder
2006 Ask the Parrot Mysterious Press Richard Stark Parker
2007 What's So Funny? Warner Books Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder
2008 Dirty Money Grand Central Publishing Richard Stark Parker
2009 Get Real Grand Central Publishing Donald E. Westlake Dortmunder
2010 Memory Hard Case Crime Donald E. Westlake Written in the early 1960s, published posthumously.
2012 The Comedy Is Finished Hard Case Crime Donald E. Westlake Written in the early 1980s, published posthumously.
2017 Forever and a Death Hard Case Crime Donald E. Westlake Written in 1998, published posthumously.
2022 Call Me a Cab Hard Case Crime Donald E. Westlake Written c. 1977/78, previously only published in a significantly shorter version in Redbook in 1978.

Collections

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  • The Curious Facts Preceding My Execution (1968)
  • Enough ("A Travesty" & "Ordo") (1977) - reissued as Double Feature by Hard Case Crime in 2020
  • Levine (1984)
  • Tomorrow's Crimes (1989), includes the novel Anarchaos
  • Horse Laugh and Other Stories (1991)
  • The Parker Omnibus, Volume 1 (1997), published in UK, containing The Man with the Getaway Face, The Outfit, and The Deadly Edge.
  • The Parker Omnibus, Volume 2 (1999), published in UK, containing The Split (alternate name for The Seventh), The Score, and The Handle.
  • A Good Story and Other Stories (1999)
  • Thieves' Dozen (2004), a collection of ten Dortmunder short stories and one related story.
  • Transgressions (2005), Ed McBain-edited collection of 10 novellas, including Westlake's Dortmunder novella "Walking Around Money"

Non-fiction

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  • Elizabeth Taylor: A Fascinating Story of America's Most Talented Actress and the World's Most Beautiful Woman (1961, as "John B. Allan")
  • Under an English Heaven (1972)
  • The Getaway Car: A Donald Westlake Nonfiction Miscellany (2014) ISBN 9780226121819

Produced screenplays

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Unpublished/unproduced works

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  • The Score (1965–1967) – screenplay based on Westlake's Richard Stark novel (later adapted as Alain Cavalier's Mise à sac)
  • Murder at the Vanities (1990–1991) – mystery stage musical; libretto by Westlake, music and lyrics by Donald Oliver & David Spencer[22]
  • God's Pocket (1996–1997) – screenplay based on the Pete Dexter novel (later adapted as God's Pocket)[23]
  • Maximum Bob – screenplay based on the Elmore Leonard novel (later adapted as a TV series, Maximum Bob)[23]
  • Arms of Nemesis – screenplay based on the novel by Steven Saylor[24][dead link‍]
  • Absolute Faith – original screenplay co-written with Ghasem Ebrahimian[25]
  • Red Harvest – screenplay based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett[18]

Legacy

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Westlake has been acknowledged by many writers and fans of crime fiction as one of the masters of the genre.

The central villain of Stephen King's novel The Dark Half, George Stark, was named in honor of Richard Stark. King telephoned Westlake personally to ask permission. King's own "Richard Bachman" pseudonym was also partly named for Stark: King had been reading a Richard Stark novel at the time he chose the pen name.[26]

Writer Duane Swierczynski named his first-born son Parker, in honor of the Richard Stark character as well as Spider-Man's secret identity, Peter Parker.[27][28]

In addition to Darwyn Cooke's graphic-novel adaptations of Parker, Cooke also homaged Westlake in his earlier work Catwoman: Selena's Big Score by giving one of the characters, an old flame and mentor of Selina Kyle, the name "Stark" as well as the face of Lee Marvin, who played the Parker character in Point Blank.[29][30]

References

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  1. ^ Lee, Jennifer 8 (January 1, 2009). "Donald E. Westlake, Mystery Writer, Is Dead at 75 (Published 2009)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 17, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Times Staff (January 2, 2009). "Mystery author Donald E. Westlake dies at 75". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  3. ^ "Donald E. Westlake". authorscalendar.info.
  4. ^ "A Bit of the Past: Plattsburgh's Champlain College". Archived from the original on June 6, 2014. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  5. ^ Lee, Jennifer 8. (January 1, 2009), "Donald E. Westlake, Mystery Writer, Is Dead at 75", The New York Times. Retrieved January 1, 2009.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Donald Westlake ~ Bibliography". Archived from the original on April 4, 2007. Retrieved March 26, 2007.
  7. ^ Westlake, Donald E. (September 24, 2014). "Writers on Writing: A Pseudonym Returns From an Alter-Ego Trip, With New Tales to Tell". The Getaway Car: A Donald Westlake Nonfiction Miscellany. University of Chicago Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-226-12181-9.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Authors and Creator: Donald Westlake". Archived from the original on October 23, 2008. Retrieved February 3, 2009.
  9. ^ "Richard Stark titles". Archived from the original on August 26, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  10. ^ a b c "eFanzines.com - Earl Kemp: e*I* Vol. 3 No. 2".
  11. ^ "Chronogram - Prince of Thieves - Apr 2006". Archived from the original on April 6, 2006.
  12. ^ Westlake, Donald. "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" and responses by Frederik Pohl, Donald Wollheim, Harry Warner, Jr., Steve Stiles and others, reprinted in: Lupoff, Richard A., & Pat Lupoff. The Best of Xero. Tachyon Publications, 2004, pp. 120 et seq.
  13. ^ Gores, Joe (1972). "Chapter 18". Dead Skip: A DKA File Novel. Random House. ISBN 0-394-48157-7.
  14. ^ Joe Gores (June 27, 2009). 32 Cadillacs. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0-446-56234-8.
  15. ^ Donald E. Westlake (July 31, 2015). Drowned Hopes. Mysterious Press at Bastei Entertainment. pp. 6–. ISBN 978-3-95859-647-4.
  16. ^ "Shooting of "The Actor" Moving to Budapest This Quarter". Budapest Reporter. November 16, 2022.
  17. ^ Scharf, Lindzi (October 18, 2022). "Abigail Spencer". The Retaility. It's called 'The Actor' and Neon is releasing it. André Holland and Gemma Chan are our leads.
  18. ^ a b c Stahl, Levi (May 29, 2018). "The Mind of Donald E. Westlake: The Letters, Books, and Films of a Crime Legend". CrimeReads. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  19. ^ "Robert Downey Jr., Shane Black Reunite for Adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's 'Parker' Series at Amazon". March 3, 2022.
  20. ^ Raup, Jordan (August 12, 2024). "First Teaser Poster for Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice, Which Begins Shooting This Week". Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  21. ^ "Parker - Book Series In Order". April 21, 2017.
  22. ^ Egan, Sean. Ponies & Rainbows: The Life of James Kirkwood. Albany, GA: BearManor Media, 2015.
  23. ^ a b "Collection - Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center". Archived from the original on May 30, 2016. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  24. ^ "Historical Mysteries in Ancient Rome – Steve Saylor Author Interview". Archived from the original on June 18, 2018.
  25. ^ "Ghasem Ebrahimian", Winter Film Awards.
  26. ^ Richard Stark (March 1, 1999). "Richard Stark: Introduced by Donald E. Westlake". Payback. Grand Central Publishing. pp. vii–x. ISBN 978-0-446-67464-5.
  27. ^ Morse, Ben (December 4, 2007). "Cable Vision: Duane Swierczynski Q&A". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on January 3, 2008. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  28. ^ Swierczynski, Duane (January 2, 2009). "Donald Westlake (a.k.a. Richard Stark) 1933-2008". Secret Dead Blog: The online home of Duane Swierczynski. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
  29. ^ Sherman, Bill (April 26, 2011). "Graphic Novel Review: Richard Stark's Parker: The Outfit by Darwyn Cooke". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
  30. ^ "Catwoman: Selena's Big Score". Publishers Weekly. March 10, 2003. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
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