Over the course of a fifty-year career, Donald E. Westlake published nearly one hundred books, including not one but two long-running series, starring the hard-hitting Parker and the hapless John Dortmunder. In the six years since his death, Westlake’s reputation has only grown, with fans continuing to marvel at his tightly constructed plots, no-nonsense prose, and keen, even unsettling, insights into human behavior.
With The Getaway Car, we get our first glimpse of another side of Westlake the writer: what he did when he wasn’t busy making stuff up. And it’s fascinating. Setting previously published pieces, many little seen, alongside never-before-published material found in Westlake’s working files, the book offers a clear picture of the man behind the books—including his thoughts on his own work and that of his peers, mentors, and influences. The book opens with revealing (and funny) fragments from an unpublished autobiography, then goes on to offer an extended history of private eye fiction, a conversation among Westlake’s numerous pen names, letters to friends and colleagues, interviews, appreciations of fellow writers, and much, much more. There’s even a recipe for Sloth à la Dortmunder. Really.
Rounded out with a foreword by Westlake’s longtime friend Lawrence Block, The Getaway Car is a fitting capstone to a storied career and a wonderful opportunity to revel anew in the voice and sensibility of a master craftsman.
Donald E. Westlake (1933–2008) was a prolific author of crime fiction. In 1993, the Mystery Writers of America bestowed the society’s highest honor on Westlake, naming him a Grand Master. Levi Stahl is the promotions director of the University of Chicago Press.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Lawrence Block Editor’s Introduction
1 My Second Life: Fragments from an Autobiography
2 Donald E. Westlake, a.k.a. . . . Hearing Voices in My Head: Tucker Coe, Timothy J. Culver, Richard Stark and Donald E. Westlake Living with a Mystery Writer, by Abby Adams Writers on Writing: A Pseudonym Returns From an Alter-Ego Trip, With New Tales to Tell
3 So Tell Me about This Job We’re Gonna Pull: On Genre The Hardboiled Dicks Introduction to Murderous Schemes Introduction to The Best American Mystery Stories, 2000 Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You
4 Ten Most Wanted: Ten Favorite Mystery Books
5 Returning to the Scene of the Crime: On His Own Work Introduction to Levine Tangled Webs for Sale: Best Offer Introduction to Kahawa Light Hooked Letter to Howard B. Gotlieb, Boston University Libraries
6 Lunch Break: May’s Famous Tuna Casserole
7 The Other Guys in the String: Peers, Favorites, and Influences Lawrence Block: First Sighting On Peter Rabe Playing Politics with a Master of Dialogue: On George V. Higgins On Rex Stout Introduction to Jack Ritchie’s A New Leaf and Other Stories Foreword to Thurber on Crime Introduction to Charles Willeford’s The Way We Die Now On Stephen Frears John D. MacDonald: A Remembrance
8 Coffee Break: Letter to Ray Broekel
9 Anything You Say May Be Used against You: Interviews An Inside Look at Donald Westlake, by Albert Nussbaum, 81332-132 The Worst Happens: From an Interview by Patrick McGilligan
10 Midnight Snack: Gustatory Notes from All Over
11 Side Jobs: Prison Breaks, Movie Mobsters, and Radio Comedy Break-Out Love Stuff, Cops-and-Robbers Style Send In the Goons
12 Signed Confessions: Letters To Judy ? To Peter Gruber To James Hale To Stephen and Tabitha King To Brian Garfield To David Ramus To Pam Vesey To Gary Salt To Henry Morrison To Jon L. Breen
13 Jobs Never Pulled: Title Ideas Crime Titles Comic Crime Titles
14 Death Row (Or, The Happily Ever Afterlife): Letter to Ralph L. Woods
