Showing results by author "Donald E. Westlake" in All Categories

The year is 1977, and America is finally getting over the nightmares of Watergate and Vietnam and the national hangover that was the 1960s. But not everyone is ready to let it go. Not aging comedian Koo Davis, friend to generals and presidents and veteran of countless USO tours to buck up American troops in the field. And not the five remaining members of the self-proclaimed People’s Revolutionary Army, who’ve decided that kidnapping Koo Davis would be the perfect way to bring their cause back to life....

What would it take to lure a serious young newswoman from a respectable New England paper to the most notorious supermarket tabloid in America? The call of journalistic adventure? How about a promise of a salary that's triple what she's making? En route to her new job at the Weekly Galaxy, Sara Joslyn stumbles across a bloody corpse in a Buick Riviera. A big story? Not at this paper. The problem is compounded when the dead man vanishes, Buick and all.

What, you ask, is a Fred Fitch? Well, for one thing, Fred Fitch is the man with the most extensive collection of fake receipts, phony bills of sale, and counterfeit sweepstakes tickets in the Western hemisphere, and possibly in the entire world. For another thing, Fred Fitch may be the only New York City resident in the twentieth century to buy a money machine.

Intrepid reporter Sara Joslyn, having escaped the clutches of the supermarket tabloid Weekly Galaxy, is finally going to be allowed to practice "clean journalism." Unfortunately, intrepid editor Jack Ingersoll has other plans, assigning her to a gory sex-murder trial in Branson, Missouri, home to more country stars than there are in the heavens. While delving into the muck, rake in hand, Sara runs into her old comrades from the Galaxy - Binx Radwell, Boy Cartwright, and the Down Under Trio among them. At the eye of this journalistic cyclone is country musician Ray Jones; is he guilty of the grisly murder, and what else is he up to?

Arriving home after another failed burglary, John Dortmunder is shocked to find his apartment occupied by a notorious cellmate that everyone had supposed (and hoped) had been jailed for life. Tom Jimson needs Dortmunder's help. Thirty years before his last prison stretch, Tom had pulled a big job up near Albany, one that left a cool $700,000 in cash buried under a water reservoir near Albany, New York. Tom's plan is to blow up the dam, flood the surrounding countryside, and grab the cash.

And at one point we decided it might be fun to do a novel together. Not by thinking it out and talking through it and, you know, collaborating in a serious artistic manner. Our method was simpler. One of us would write a chapter, and then the other would write a chapter to come after it, and back and forth, like that, until we had a book. It worked, and by God it was fun. The first of our efforts was A Girl Called Honey, and it started when I wrote a chapter and sent it to Don. And so on, and we stopped when we had a book and sent it to Henry Morrison.

Here's the book that started it all: A Girl Called Honey - and if listening to the saga of Honor Mercy Bane brings you a small fraction of the fun we had writing it, you'll be back right away to scoop up So Willing and Sin Hellcat.

John Dortmunder leaves jail with ten dollars, a train ticket, and nothing to make money on but his good name. Thankfully, his reputation goes far. No one plans a caper better than Dortmunder. His friend Kelp picks him up in a stolen Cadillac and drives him away from Sing-Sing, telling a story of a $500,000 emerald that they just have to steal. Dortmunder doesn't hesitate to agree.

When Don Westlake and I were starting out as writers, we both served an apprenticeship writing erotic novels for Harry Shorten at Midwood Books and Bill Hamling at Nightstand. (I was Sheldon Lord for Midwood and Andrew Shaw for Nightstand, while Don was Alan Marshall for both publishers. Note though that the presence of either name upon a book is no guarantee that one of us wrote it. Both of us made arrangements whereby lesser writers would submit works under our names—and I know it's hard to believe that any writers were less than we were back then, but it's true.) Well. We'd become ...

"Give me liberty or give me death!" was merely a quotation from a history book to Dr. Lambert until Patrick Henry walked into his office and complained of suffering from a chronic headache.

From the February 1960 issue of Manhunt Magazine, Mike Vendetti has taken four short stories that appeared in that issue and turned them into an audiobook. An Empty Threat by Donald E Westlake, No Place to run by Carroll Mayers, the Worm Turns by R. D'Ascoli, and The Idiot's Tale.

We get them every day. Those irritating #RoboCalls. "The Question", is a short story where the recipient gives answers, then hears voices in the background that weren't meant for his ears that add a bit of mystery and intrigue to the tale.

El robo elevado a la categoría de arte envenenado. A pesar de tener un don para organizar grandes golpes, John Dortmunder se dedica desde hace una buena temporada a las estafas de poca monta. Es más seguro... y más aburrido. Por eso, cuando su amigo Kelp le propone un audaz e inverosímil atraco a un banco, Dortmunder no puede resistirse. En poco tiempo urden un plan minucioso y forman un equipo de cinco hombres y dos mujeres para quienes el robo es algo más que un modo de vida. Para ellos, estos son los riesgos que vale la pena correr.

Meet Tim Smith, your not-so-average small town private eye from upstate New York. Author Donald Westlake, the mastermind behind the gripping Parker novels, introduces this unique character who shares a friendly bond with the citys high flyers, including the City Council and the Mayor. But Smiths relations arent just about camaraderie - hes sitting on a treasure trove of their darkest secrets, not that he has any intention of exposing them. However, when an assassination attempt shakes him up, Smith grows suspicious that his friends are threatened by the forthcoming political clean-up crew, ...

Narrated with intensity and emotion by Mike Vendetti, "Journey to Death" by Donald E. Westlake will keep you on the edge of your seat as you follow the harrowing journey of two men as they wait for rescue trapped in a room of a ship that has sunk in the Atlantic. Can they overcome the isolation, terror, and hunger that threaten to consume them, or will they succumb to the perils of the sea?

Prison inmates have a lot of time on their hands. Some use this time to plan an escape. Break-Out written by Donald E. Westlake is an audiobook narrated by Mike Vendetti that recounts the planning and eventual escape from some highly secure prisons such as Alcatraz. Unfortunately for the perpetrators, they didn't put enough planning into how to stay out of prison.

John Dortmunder has been working an encyclopedia-selling scam while waiting for his next big heist. Unfortunately, his latest mark seems to be wise to the con, and he has to cut his sales pitch short and make a quick escape.

Bible kanadských žertíků, které hrdina jménem Künde nepřestane dělat ani ve vězení, kam se kvůli nim ostatně dostal. Humoristický román s detektivní zápletkou je u nás Westlakeovým nejznámějším a nejslavnějším dílem. Harold Albert Chester Künde, hlavní postava románu, je dvaatřicetiletý svobodný muž, který v osmi letech dospěl k závěru, že jeho příjmení je kanadský žertík, a tak od té doby sám kanadské žertíky provádí. Jeden z nich ho bohužel přivede až do vězení. Jeho předsevzetí skončit se svým koníčkem mu ovšem nevyjde.

En række forbrydere fra forskellige europæiske lande slår sig sammen om at stjæle en formue, der er skjult bag stenene på et slot, som tilhører en afsat sydamerikansk diktator. Men nogle taler engelsk, nogle taler tysk, nogle spansk, og andre igen fransk og italiensk, og kun få kan tale et sprog udover deres modersmål. Sprogvanskelighederne og de mange nationale fordomme truer med at ødelægge det store kup ... Den amerikanske forfatter Donald E.

Ugebladet ’Galaxy’ ejes af en tidligere mafiaboss, og den redaktionelle stab er gennemkorrupt og skyer ingen midler for at finde de mest opsigtsvækkende historier og hårrejsende billeder til bladets fem millioner læsere. Fristet af en høj løn ankommer den unge journalist Sara Joslyn til ’Galaxy’. I begyndelsen er hun uspoleret og naiv, men snart deltager hun i kapløbet med kollegerne om at opsnuse sensationer og skandaler i hobetal.