Donald E. Westlake

Westlake 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.

Westlake studied at Binghamton University. The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are detective fiction. Works named in the authority record are The Hunter and The Grifters. Distinctions recorded are Edgar Awards, Shamus Award and Gumshoe Awards.

• Pen Name — John B. Allan, Judson Jack Carmichael, Curt Clark, Timothy J. Culver, J. Morgan Cunningham, Richard Stark, Edwin West, among others • Birth Name — Donald Edwin Westlake • Born — 12 July 1933 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Died — 31 December 2008 • Place of death — Mexico • Education — Binghamton University • Occupation — Novelist • Genre — Crime fiction • Notable Works — Parker series, John Dortmunder series, God Save the Mark, screenplay for The Grifters • Awards — Edgar Awards for Best Novel (1968), Best Short Story (1990) and Best Motion Picture Screenplay (1991) Mystery Writers of America Grand Master (1993)

Westlake was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Lillian (Bounds) and Albert Joseph Westlake, 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 G.I. Bill boom) of Plattsburgh, New York, 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. Westlake was an occasional contributor to science fiction fanzines such as Xero, and in 1962 used Xero as a venue for a harsh announcement that he was leaving the science fiction field.

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.

In addition to writing consistently under his own name, Westlake published under several pseudonyms. 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." Stark debuted in 1959, with a story in Mystery Digest. Four other Stark short stories followed through 1961, including "The Curious Facts Preceding My Execution", 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. • 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. 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. • 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. • 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. • 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, one 1966 short story. • John B. Allan: Elizabeth Taylor: A Fascinating Story of America's Most Talented Actress and the World's Most Beautiful Woman, 1961, biography. • Don Holliday: pseudonym used by Westlake for two collaborative soft-core novels (with various authors, including Hal Dresner and Lawrence Block) in 1963/64. • Curt Clark: debuted in 1964 with the short story "Nackles". Novel: Anarchaos, 1967, science fiction. • 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. • 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. • P. N. Castor: pseudonym used for one 1966 short story co-authored with Dave Foley. • Timothy J. Culver: Ex Officio, 1970, thriller. • J. Morgan Cunningham: Comfort Station, 1971, humor. Cover features the blurb: "I wish I had written this book! – Donald E. Westlake." • 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. 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.

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. 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.

Westlake 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.

The following table can be sorted to show Westlake's novels in chronological order, or arranged alphabetically by title, publisher, author credit, or 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 • 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.

• 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)

• Cops and Robbers (1973) • Hot Stuff (1979) co-written with Michael Kane • The Stepfather (1987) • Why Me? (1990) – based on Westlake's novel, co-written with Leonard Maas, Jr. (pseudonym of David Koepp) • The Grifters (1990) – based on the novel by Jim Thompson • Ripley Under Ground (2005) – based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, co-written with William Blake Herron

• An interview with Donald Westlake, University of Chicago Press, 2008 • Westlake talking about his work and life. • What if NYC were a character in a mystery novel?