Sample Chapter – The Mercenaries

You can find links to sample chapters in some of the book pages on this site and more are being added over time. Indicating which books have sample chapters in the bibliography is on my list of things to do, possibly this weekend. Until then, it’s pot luck.   Below, the first few paragraphs of The Mercenaries, the first book Read More …

Meanwhile, on Twitter…

@ExtAngel Glenn Kenny Goddamnit. I should never go to the gym while I’m in the MIDDLE of a Richard Stark novel. 14 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®   @WDGagliani W.D. Gagliani Openings: John Dortmunder was a man on whom the sun shone only when he needed darkness. / Donald Westlake, Bad News, 2001 ((I can relate!)) 16 Nov via Read More …

Her Favorite Author

By Daniela Gitlin on her blog   Westlake wrote quirky, smart stories about quirky, smart people living full lives outside the law. Sure, they go down quick and easy as escapist trash. But to think they are trash would be a mistake, like falling for Columbo’s dull bulb act. Single-handed creator of the comedic caper and noir crime fiction, Westlake Read More …

Not For Sale

From Seacoast Online – Portsmouth, NH   Even with more than 3,000 titles in Mainely Murders and 10,000 in their ever-expanding collection, Keeney and Whetstone admit there are books they will never sell.   “I collect Richard Stark, which is another name for Donald Westlake. He was among the first of the good and bad guys. He’s a robber and Read More …

Forgotten Books: The Jugger by Richard Stark

by Ed Gorman (on his blog)   How’s this for an opener? I’m about to review the worst book Donald E. Westlake ever wrote. Don’t take my word for it. Here’s Westlake himself speaking.   “I spoiled a book by having him do something he wouldn’t do. The sixth book in the series is called The Jugger, and that book Read More …

Darwyn Cooke Talks About Parker

    by Josie Campbell, Staff Writer for Comic Book Resources   At the 2011 Long Beach Comic Con, artist Darwyn Cooke and IDW Publishing Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier joined forces on the Darwyn Cooke panel to talk about Cooke’s ongoing IDW work adapting author Richard Stark AKA Donald Westlake’s “Parker” novels into graphic novel form. Immediately opening the Read More …

Palm Beach Peccadillos

It’s no secret by now that Taylor Hackford has directed the forthcoming Parker, based on Richard Stark’s Flashfire, with Jason Statham in the starring role. Among Parker fans, pretty much everything is already known about the casting, making and eventual distribution of this movie. What amuses me is how Palm Beach, Florida, played its part in both the book and Read More …

Welcome!

Welcome and thanks for visiting the official website of crime novelist and MWA Grand Master Donald E. Westlake, aka Richard Stark, aka Tucker Coe, aka Curt Clark, aka Samuel Holt, aka Timothy J. Culver, aka J. Morgan Cunningham, aka Judson Jack Carmichael (what’s with all the “J” names?), and (grudgingly) aka Edwin West. The blog section (here) will be where Read More …