Authors and Creators
 Donald Westlake
 (Pseudonyms include Alan Marshal, Edwin West, Edwina West, Edwin Wood, Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, Timothy J. Culver, Samuel Holt, Curt Clark, J. Morgan Cunningham, Ben Christopher, Grace Salacious)
(1933-2008)

Simply the best. One of the most accomplished crime writers ever, and certainly one of the funniest, Donald Edwin Edward Westlake was born in Brooklyn in 1933, and rambled around much of New York state, growing up, or at least that's his story. He was raised in Yonkers and Albany, and attended college in Plattsburgh (Plattsburgh? That's uncomfortably close to here!), Troy and Binghamton, and finally Manhattan. "None to much effect," he hastens to assure us. He served a few years in the U.S. Air Force (where he learned "a little German") and began his writing career with The Mercenaries in 1960. He has since written dozens of novels over the past thirty-five years, under his own name and a rash of pseudonyms.

Westlake is one prolific and talented guy, probably best known for his caper novels, which essentially come in two flavours: humourous and hard. In the lighter vein, he writes the John Dortmunder series, about a brilliant, but hilariously unlucky master criminal. The first Dortmunder caper, The Hot Rock, appeared in 1970.

Westlake also enjoys a large and devoted following for his decidely bleaker, more hard-boiled books about professional criminal Parker, written under the pen name of Richard Stark. Westlake/Stark fans were very happy when Parker made his triumpant return, after a 23-year hiatus, with the appriately-titled Comeback in 1997. Westlake has promised more.

As well, he's written several more stand-alone caper novels, thrillers, mysteries and even a little science fiction.

But that's not all!

As Tucker Coe, Westlake has written a series about guilt-ridden private eye, Mitch Tobin, and under his own name he wrote Killing Time, a stand-alone about small town P.I. Tim Smith. As Sam Holt, he's responsible for --wait for it!-- the Sam Holt series.

But that's not all!

He's written about New york cop Abe Levine and cop turned actor Sam Holt. And he's written dozens of stand-alones: capers, thrillers, historicals, science fiction and even a lesbian romance or two. Under J. Morgan Cunningham, he's written the Alec Hailey spoof, Comfort Station, which boasts the memorable blurb "I wish I had written this book," attributed to one Donald E. Westlake. As Thomas J. Culver, he wrote a political novel political novel, and under the names of Alan Marshall and Edwin West, he penned several soft-core books in the early sixties. A true renaissance man!

But that's not all! (It's starting to sound like a TV commercial, isn't it?)

He's also found the time to script a few films and television scripts, most notably The Grifters (1990), based on the novel by Jim Thompson. He's also written a few screenplays based on hisa own works, and he's written pilots for television series, Supertrain and The Father Dowling Mysteries. Well, nobody's perfect. Fortunately, balancing out the scales are several fine films which have been made based on his works.

Westlake was deservedly named a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master in 1993, and he currently lives with his wife, the writer Abby Adams, out in the sticks of rural New York State, next to a goat farm.

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RELATED LINKS

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Rudyard Kennedy for the tip on the Westlake site.

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