Donald E. Westlake

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Donald E. Westlake, 2006 in Lyon

Donald Edwin Westlake (born July 12, 1933 in Brooklyn , New York City , † December 31, 2008 in San Tancho , Mexico ) was an American writer and screenwriter , who was best known for his crime novels .

Life

Born to Lillian (Bounds) and Albert Joseph Westlake, he grew up in Yonkers and Albany . Westlake went to a Catholic school in Albany; then he attended Champlain College in Plattsburgh . From 1954 to 1956 he served in the US Air Force and then studied at Harpur College in Binghamton , New York, but without obtaining a degree. In 1958 Westlake moved to New York City, where he did various jobs.

He began writing in the early 1950s, published his first science fiction and crime stories and several erotic novels under various pseudonyms. Over several years he wrote 46 short stories for the fast-paced, genre-oriented market, 27 of which were published. With the support of the New York literary agent Scott Meredith Westlake published in 1960 his first crime novel The Mercenaries (dt .: The gangster syndicate ).

He then published over 100 books - mostly crime novels, but also some science fiction novels. Westlake published some of his novels under stage names such as John B. Allen, Curt Clark, Tucker Coe, Timothy J. Culver, Morgan J. Cunningham, Samuel Holt, Sheldon Lord (with Lawrence Block), Allan Marshall, Richard Stark and Edwin West.

Westlake's most famous character is the tough professional criminal Parker (the Parker novels appeared under the pseudonym Richard Stark ), followed later by John Dortmunder, a unlucky gangster with traits of genius, with whom Westlake created a kind of crook caricature.

Westlake was married three times. After marriages with Nedra Hendersen and Sandra Kalb, he married Abigail (Adams) in 1979, who published a number of non-fiction books on the subject of gardening and gardening plants as Abby Westlake and thus became known. Westlake last lived with Abby in New York State. He was the father of four sons.

Donald E. Westlake died of a heart attack on December 31, 2008 while on vacation in Mexico.

Awards

Works

The John Archibald Dortmunder series

  • 1970 The Hot Rock
    • Stay away from hot ice , German by Sigrid Kellner; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1971, ISBN 3-548-01373-2
  • 1972 Bank Shot
    • Five against a bank , German by Sigrid Kellner; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1973, ISBN 3-548-01524-7
  • 1974 Jimmy the Kid
    • Jimmy the Kid , German by Sigrid Kellner; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1975, ISBN 3-548-01694-4
  • 1977 Nobody's Perfect
    • Everyone has their own mistakes , German by Burkhard Buss; Munich: Heyne 1979, ISBN 3-453-10420-X
  • 1983 Why Me?
  • 1985 Good Behavior
  • 1990 Drowned Hopes
  • 1993 Don't Ask
  • 1996 What's the Worst That Could Happen?
  • 2001 Bad News
  • 2004 The Road to Ruin
  • 2004 Thieves' Dozen (short stories)
  • 2005 Watch Your Back
  • 2007 What's so funny
  • 2009 Get Real

The Parker series (published as Richard Stark)

  • 1962 The Hunter, also as: Point Blank; also as: Payback
  • 1963 The Man with the Getaway Face (English edition: The Steel Hit)
    • Parker's Revenge , German by Christiane Nogly; Rastatt: Pabel 1975
  • 1963 The Outfit
    • The Gorillas , German by Christian Wessels; Frankfurt, Berlin: Ullstein 1968
  • 1963 The Mourner
    • A job for Parker , German by Werner Gronwald; Munich: Heyne 1968
  • 1964 The Score / Killtown
    • City in a stranglehold , German by Thomas Egerton; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1975, ISBN 3-548-01683-9
  • 1965 The Jugger
    • Parker's judgment , German by Christiane Nogly; Rastatt: Pabel 1976
  • 1966 The Seventh / The Split
    • Parker and the Amateur , German by Karl H. Kosmehl; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1976, ISBN 3-548-01736-3
  • 1966 The Handle / Run Lethal
    • The casino off the coast , German by Franz Kiel; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1975, ISBN 3-548-01695-2
  • 1967 The Rare Coin Score
    • His weight in gold , German by Gretl Spitzer; Frankfurt, Berlin: Ullstein 1968
  • 1967 The Green Eagle Score
    • Company Grüner Schnee , German by Gretl Spitzer; Frankfurt, Berlin: Ullstein 1969
  • 1968 The Black Ice Score
    • Black Ice Company , German by Will Helm; Frankfurt, Berlin: Ullstein 1969
  • 1969 The Sour Lemon Score
    • A trap for Parker , by Will Helm; Frankfurt, Berlin: Ullstein 1969
  • 1971 Deadly Edge
    • A sore point can kill , by Hardo Wichmann; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1971, ISBN 3-548-01426-7
  • 1971 Slayground
    • I am the third corpse on the left , German from Ursula Goldtschmidt; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1972, ISBN 3-548-11478-4
  • 1972 Plunder Squad
    • Hard times, weak knees , German by Helmut Bittner; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1973, ISBN 3-548-01582-4
  • 1974 Butcher's Moon
    • Bloody moon , German by Heinz F. Kliem; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1975, ISBN 3-548-01663-4
  • 1997 comeback
  • 1998 backflash
  • 2000 Flashfire
  • 2001 Firebreak
    • The winner comes away empty-handed , German by Dirk van Gunsteren; Vienna: Zsolnay 2010, ISBN 978-3-552-05497-4
  • 2002 breakout
  • 2004 Nobody runs forever
  • 2006 Ask the Parrot
  • 2008 Dirty Money

The Mitch Tobin series (published as Tucker Coe)

  • 1966 Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death
    • On dead track , German by Martin Lewitt; Frankfurt, Berlin: Ullstein 1969
  • 1967 Murder Among Children
    • I didn't mean that, by Martin Lewitt; Frankfurt, Berlin: Ullstein 1969
  • 1970 Wax Apple
    • The wax apple , German by Martin Lewitt; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1970
  • 1971 A Jade in Aries
    • No closed season for Aries , German by Ingrid von Blücher; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1971, ISBN 3-548-01410-0
  • 1972 Don't Lie to Me
    • Tell the truth, colleague , German by Heinz F. Kliem; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1974, ISBN 3-548-01585-9

The Alan Grofield series (published as Richard Stark)

  • 1967 The Damsel
    • Girl robbery in Mexico , German by Edith Massmann; Frankfurt, Berlin: Ullstein 1969
  • 1969 The Dame
    • No rum for Puerto Rico , German by Renate Steinbach; Frankfurt, Berlin: Ullstein 1970
  • 1969 The Blackbird
    • The song thrush , German from?; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1974, ISBN 3-548-01331-7
  • 1971 Lemons Never Lie
    • Tinder, Zaster and Lemons , German by Hansjürgen Wille u. Barbara Klau; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1971, ISBN 3-548-01428-3

The Samuel Holt series (published as Samuel Holt)

  • 1986 I Know a Trick Worth Two of That
  • 1986 One of Us Is Wrong
  • 1987 What I Tell You Three Times Is False
  • 1989 The Fourth Dimension Is Death

Other crime novels

  • 1960 The Mercenaries / The Smashers
    • The gangster syndicate , German by Georg u. Rosmarie Kahn-Ackermann; Munich, Vienna, Basel: Desch 1962
  • 1961 Killing Time / The Operator
    • One of Seven , German by Rosmarie Kahn-Ackermann; Munich, Vienna, Basel: Desch 1963
  • 1962 361
  • 1963 Killy
    • Practice makes the killer
  • 1964 Pity Him Afterwards
    • A madman goes on vacation , German by Rosmarie Kahn-Ackermann; Munich: Desch 1966
  • 1965 The Fugitive Pigeon
    • For whom the second strikes , German by Rosmarie Kahn-Ackermann; Munich, Vienna, Basel: Desch 1966
  • 1966 The Busy Body
    • Heroin and many dollars , German by Rosmarie Kahn-Ackermann; Munich: Desch 1968
  • 1966 The Spy in the Ointment
    • Held against Will , German by Christine Penitzka; Munich: Desch 1968
  • 1967 God Save the Mark
    • Money makes you happy , German by Rosmarie Kahn-Ackermann; Munich: Desch 1968
  • 1967 Philip
  • 1968 Who Stole Sassi Manoon?
    • Who Stole Sassi Manoon? , German by Mechtild Sandberg; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1970
  • 1969 Somebody Owes Me Money
    • I want my money , German from Edith Massmann; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna 1976, ISBN 3-548-01329-5
  • 1969 Up Your Banners
  • 1970 Adios, Scheherazade
  • 1970 Ex Officio / Power Play (published as Timothy J. Culver)
  • 1971 I Gave At the Office
  • 1972 Cops and Robbers
    • Robbers in Uniform , German by Sigrid Kellner; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1974, ISBN 3-548-01608-1
  • 1973 Comfort Station (published as Morgan J. Cunningham)
  • 1974 Help, I'm Being Held Prisoner
    • Help, I'm being held prisoner , by Sigrid Kellner; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1975, ISBN 3-548-01676-6
  • 1975 Brothers Keepers
  • 1975 Two Much
    • Two are too many , by Sigrid Kellner; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1976, ISBN 3-548-01735-5
  • 1976 Dancing Aztecs / A New York Dance
  • 1977 Enough
  • 1980 Castle in the Air
    • A castle in the air is hunted , German by Sigrid Kellner; Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: Ullstein 1981, ISBN 3-548-10127-5
  • 1982 Kahawa
  • 1984 A Likely Story
  • 1985 high adventure
  • 1987 Transylvania Station (with Abby Westlake)
  • 1987 High Jinx (with Abby Westlake)
  • 1987 The Hood House Heist
  • 1988 Trust Me on This
  • 1988 Double Crossing
  • 1988 The Maltese Herring
  • 1988 Way Out West
  • 1989 Sacred Monster
  • 1992 Humans
  • 1994 Baby, Would I Lie?
  • 1995 Smoke
  • 1997 The Ax
    • Der Freisteller , German by Johannes Schwab; Munich, Vienna: Europe 1998, ISBN 3-203-84002-2
  • 2000 The Hook
  • 2002 Put a Lid on It
  • 2003 Money for Nothing

Film adaptations

Literary template

script

Graphic novel adaptation

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Westlake, Donald E.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Westlake, Donald Edwin Edmund; numerous stage names
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH July 12, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York City
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 2008
Place of death San Tancho , Mexico