Donald Westlake passed away on New Year's Eve of an apparent heart attack at the age of 75. I hate to admit that I hadn't actually read anything by Mr. Westlake but I hope to remedy that now. After reading several articles about him, I see that I've probably been missing out. I gather he wrote in the manner of Mickey Spillane, Ed McBain, Richard Prather, and Donald Hamilton - all who are now gone. Mr. Westlake also wrote under the pen names of Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, Samuel Holt, Timothy J. Culver and J. Morgan Cunningham. He started writing crime novels in 1960 and his first one, "The Mercenaries", was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award. He wrote something like 100 more, won the Edgar three times, was named a Grand Master by the MWA, got an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay of "The Grifters" and was called "one of the great writers of the 20th century" by Newsweek. We have 19 of his books at our library.
The reviews say Westlake’s books " have wonderful characters, complicated evolving plots, that are tightly paced and incredibly readable. When he’s funny, he’s genuinely funny with humour arising unforced out of situations. Characters are always themselves, they act the way you know they would act." Mr. Westlake was writing up to the very end - his newest book "Get Real" is due out April of 2009. If you want to read more try The Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-westlake3-2009jan03,0,6300786.story
Westlake's official website http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-westlake3-2009jan03,0,6300786.story
Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/02/AR2009010202282.html
Susan
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