Donald E. Westlake
Westlake at home in the 1980s
Born	Donald Edwin Westlake (1933-07-12)July 12, 1933 New York City, U.S.
Died	December 31, 2008(2008-12-31) (aged 75) Mexico
Pen name	John B. Allan, Judson Jack Carmichael, Curt Clark, Timothy J. Culver, J. Morgan Cunningham, Richard Stark, Edwin West, among others
Occupation	Novelist
Alma mater	Binghamton University
Genre	Crime fiction
Notable works	Parker series,John Dortmunder series,God Save the Mark, screenplay forThe Grifters
Notable awards	Edgar Awards for Best Novel (1968), Best Short Story (1990) and Best Motion Picture Screenplay (1991) Mystery Writers of AmericaGrand 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 incrime fiction, especiallycomic capers, with an occasional foray intoscience fiction and other genres. Westlake created two professional criminal characters who each starred in a long-running series: the relentless,hardboiledParker (published under the pen nameRichard Stark), andJohn Dortmunder, who featured in a more humorous series.^[1]

Westlake was a three-timeEdgar Award winner and, alongsideJoe Gores andWilliam 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, theMystery Writers of America named Westlake aGrand Master, the highest honor bestowed by the society.^[2]

Westlake was born inBrooklyn, New York, the son of Lillian (Bounds) and Albert Joseph Westlake,^[3] and was raised inAlbany, 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 WWIIG.I. Bill boom) ofPlattsburgh, New York,^[4] andBinghamton University inBinghamton, New York. He also spent two years in theUnited 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.

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 criminalParker (appearing in fiction published under the Richard Stark pseudonym) and Parker's comic flip-sideJohn Dortmunder. Westlake was quoted as saying that he originally intended what becameThe 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 inNew 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 ofElizabeth Taylor.^[5]

Westlake was an occasional contributor toscience fiction fanzines such asXero, and usedXero as a venue for a harsh announcement that he was leaving thescience fiction field.^[6]

In addition to writing consistently under his own name, Westlake published under severalpseudonyms.^[5] In the order they debuted:

• Rolfe Passer: An early Westlake story was published under this name inMystery 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 collaboratorLawrence 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 theParker 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 actorRichard Widmark, whose performance in the filmKiss 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 theNew 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 inMystery 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 thiefParker and his accomplices (including larcenous actorAlan Grofield) appeared and were credited to Richard Stark. AfterButcher'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 forThe Grifters, directorStephen 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 theWriter'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 withComeback. TheUniversity of Chicago began republishing the Richard Stark novels in 2008.^[9]
• Alan Marshall (orAlan Marsh): Westlake acknowledged writing as many as 28 paperback soft-porn titles from 1959 to 1964 under these names; titles includeAll 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, andSin 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 byMidwood Books were co-authored by Westlake andLawrence 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, andSo 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 in77 Sunset Strip magazine, based on the characters from theTV 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 calledNo Longer A Virgin (1960)
• Andrew Shaw: pseudonym used by Westlake and Lawrence Block for their 1961 collaborative soft-core novelSin 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,^[5] 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.^[5]
• Don Holliday: pseudonym used by Westlake for two collaborative soft-core novels (with various authors, includingHal Dresner and Lawrence Block) in 1963/64.^[10]
• Curt Clark: debuted in 1964 with the short story "Nackles". Novel:Anarchaos, 1967, science fiction.^[5]
• Barbara Wilson: one co-authored novel withLaurence Janifer (The Pleasures We Know, 1964); Janifer also used this name for at least one solo novel with no involvement from Westlake.^[5]
• Tucker Coe: five mystery novels featuring the character of Mitch Tobin:Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death, 1966;Murder Among Children, 1967;Wax Apple andA Jade in Aries, both 1970;Don't Lie to Me, 1972.^[5]
• P. N. Castor: pseudonym used for one 1966 short story co-authored with Dave Foley.^[8]
• Timothy J. Culver:Ex Officio, 1970, thriller.^[5]
• J. Morgan Cunningham:Comfort Station, 1971, humor. Cover features theblurb: "I wish I had written this book! – Donald E. Westlake."^[5]
• Samuel Holt: four mystery novels featuring the character of Sam Holt, 1986–1989:One of Us is Wrong andI Know a Trick Worth Two of That, both 1986;What I Tell You Three Times is False, 1987;The Fourth Dimension is Death, 1989.^[5] 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'sJimmy 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 ofThe 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 forThe Grifters using the pen-name "Richard Stark" as an in-joke, but insisted on using his own name.
• A character in Timothy J. Culver'sEx Officio works for Coe-Stark Associates.
• In the Mitch Tobin novelA 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 bookMurder Ink: The Mystery Reader's Companion.

Westlake andJoe Gores wrote the same encounter between two of their characters from different perspectives in two different novels. In chapter 18 of Gores' 1972 novelDead Skip, San Francisco detective Dan Kearney meets Westlake's amoral thiefParker while looking for one of Parker's associates. The sequence is described from Parker's viewpoint in the 1972 bookPlunder 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.^[12]

Gores and Westlake also wrote a shared chapter in Westlake'sDrowned Hopes and Gores'32 Cadillacs, having the characters in those books influenced by the same event.^[13][14]

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Several of Westlake's novels have been made into motion pictures: 1967'sPoint Blank (based onThe Hunter) withLee Marvin as Parker (changed to Walker);Mise à sac [fr] (based onThe Score) withMichel Constantin as Parker (changed to Georges), also in 1967; 1968'sThe Split (from the bookThe Seventh) withJim Brown as Parker (changed to McClain);The Hot Rock in 1972 withRobert Redford as Dortmunder;Cops and Robbers in 1973;The Outfit withRobert Duvall as Parker (changed to Macklin), also in 1973;Bank Shot in 1974 withGeorge C. Scott as Dortmunder (changed to Ballantine);The Busy Body (with an "all-star cast") in 1967;Slayground withPeter Coyote as Parker (changed to Stone) in 1983;^[15][16]Why Me? withChristopher Lambert as Dortmunder (changed to Cardinale),Christopher Lloyd, andJ. T. Walsh in 1990;Payback in 1999, the second film made fromThe Hunter, withMel Gibson as Parker (changed to Porter);What's the Worst That Could Happen? in 2001 withMartin Lawrence as Dortmunder (changed to Kevin Caffery);Constantin Costa-Gavras adaptedThe Ax for the European screen in 2005, to great critical and public acclaim – entitledLe Couperet, the film takes place in France and Belgium rather than the novel's setting of New England;Parker in 2013, based onFlashfire, withJason Statham as Parker.

In his introduction to one of the short stories inThieves' 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 novelJimmy the Kid has been adapted three times: in Italy asCome ti rapisco il pupo [it] in 1976; in the U.S. asJimmy the Kid in 1982, starringGary Coleman; and in Germany asJimmy the Kid in 1998, starringHerbert Knaup.^{[citation needed]}

The novelTwo Much! has been adapted twice: in France asLe Jumeau (The Twin) in 1984; and in the U.S. asTwo Much in 1995, starringAntonio Banderas andMelanie Griffith.^{[citation needed]}

Jean-Luc Godard'sMade in U.S.A. in 1966 was an extremely loose adaptation ofThe 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]}

Westlake was himself a screenwriter. His script for the 1990 filmThe Grifters, adapted from the novel byJim Thompson, was nominated for anAcademy 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 novelDrowned Hopes by featuring a character named "Tom Jimson" who is a criminal psychopath.^[17] Westlake also wrote the screenplay for the filmThe 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 teleplayFatal Confession, a pilot for the TV seriesFather Dowling Mysteries based on the novels byRalph 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 filmThe 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 novelForever and a Death, which was published posthumously in 2017 byHard Case Crime.^[18]

Westlake wrote an unproduced screenplay adapting theDashiell Hammett crime novelRed 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 seriesSupertrain with teleplay writerEarl W. Wallace; Westlake and Wallace shared "created by" credit.^{[citation needed]}

In 2022,Variety reported thatRobert Downey, Jr. andShane Black were working together on multiple movie and television projects forAmazon Studios based on the Parker series.^[19] An original Parker story was released by Amazon in 2025 asPlay Dirty, directed by Shane Black and starringMark Wahlberg as Parker.^[20]

In 2025, South Korean directorPark Chan-Wook filmed Westlake's novelThe Ax under the titleNo Other Choice.^[21][22] The film was favorably reviewed.^[22]

His novelMemory, published posthumously in 2010, was adapted into the filmThe Actor, directed byDuke Johnson, starringAndré Holland andGemma Chan, and released in 2025.^[23][24][25]

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

Westlake died of aheart attack on December 31, 2008, while on the way to a New Year's Eve dinner inMexico, where he and his wife were on vacation.^[26]

• The Curious Facts Preceding My Execution (1968)
• Enough ("A Travesty" & "Ordo") (1977) - reissued asDouble Feature by Hard Case Crime in 2020
• Levine (1984)
• Tomorrow's Crimes (1989), includes the novelAnarchaos
• Horse Laugh and Other Stories (1991)
• The Parker Omnibus, Volume 1 (1997), published in UK, containingThe Man with the Getaway Face,The Outfit, andThe Deadly Edge.
• The Parker Omnibus, Volume 2 (1999), published in UK, containingThe Split (alternate name forThe Seventh),The Score, andThe 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"

• 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

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

• The Score (1965–1967) – screenplay based on Westlake's Richard Stark novel (later adapted as Alain Cavalier'sMise à sac)
• Murder at the Vanities (1990–1991) – mystery stage musical; libretto by Westlake, music and lyrics by Donald Oliver & David Spencer^[28]
• God's Pocket (1996–1997) – screenplay based on thePete Dexter novel (later adapted asGod's Pocket)^[29]
• Maximum Bob – screenplay based on theElmore Leonard novel (later adapted as a TV series,Maximum Bob)^[29]
• Arms of Nemesis – screenplay based on the novel bySteven Saylor^[30]
• Absolute Faith – original screenplay co-written withGhasem Ebrahimian^[31]
• Red Harvest – screenplay based on the novel byDashiell Hammett^[18]

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

The central villain ofStephen King's 1989 novelThe 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.^[32]

WriterDuane Swierczynski named his first-born son Parker, in honor of the Richard Stark character as well asSpider-Man's secret identity, Peter Parker.^[33][34]

In addition to Darwyn Cooke's graphic-novel adaptations of Parker, Cooke also homaged Westlake in his earlier workCatwoman: Selena's Big Score by giving one of the characters, an old flame and mentor ofSelina Kyle, the name "Stark" as well as the face ofLee Marvin, who played the Parker character inPoint Blank.^[35][36]

Wikiquote has quotations related toDonald E. Westlake.

• Official webpageArchived April 13, 2010, at theWayback Machine
• Donald E. Westlake atIMDb
• Works by Donald E. Westlake atProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about Donald E. Westlake at theInternet Archive
• Works by Donald E. Westlake atLibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• FantasticFiction: Comprehensive bibliography
• DBratman.net: Annotated booklist
• Website devoted to the Parker novels written as Richard Stark
• "A Storyteller Who Got the Details Right". Annotated bibliography by Ethan Iverson
• Blog examining each of Westlake's novels in detail--still ongoing
• An interview with Donald Westlake, University of Chicago Press, 2008
• "Donald E. Westlake, Mystery Writer, Is Dead at 75",The New York Times, January 1, 2009
• Associated Press:"Donald Westlake Obituary" inThe New York Times
• "Nackles" – The Story
• "Donald Westlake Memorium" onYouTube Westlake talking about his work and life.
• Donald Westlake / Stark bibliography at HARD-BOILED site (Comprehensive Bibliographies by Vladimir)
• University of Chicago Interview 2008, upon republication of three of the Richard Stark "Parker" novels.
• "Donald Westlake: New York City Personified" onYouTube What if NYC were a character in a mystery novel?

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