I think of the Dortmunder books as "Crime a la Seinfeld": Imagine the Seinfeld characters going in together on a heist. In the novel _Bank Shot_, for instance, when Dortmunder and his group steal a bank, which is temporarily housed in a trailer, they hide the trailer in a trailer park. So far so good. But then they repaint it with water-based paint. Which then runs in the rain. If that doesn't sound like a George Costanza plan . . .

(Robert Redford was the perfect Dortmunder, IMO. Nobody else could do that air of comic exasperation quite as well.)

I'm aware that Donald Westlake writes under the Nmae Richard Stark...and he also has other pseudonyms.

I'd like to know what other names he writes under.

Donald Westlake has written under the names Tucker Coe, Timothy Culver and Curt Clark. But good luck finding any of these books. They have all been out of print for ages and ages.

I read three novels by Westlake as Tucker Coe: Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death (1966), Murder Among Children (68)and Don't Lie to Me (1972). They are the worst Westlake novels: the protagonist, Mitch Tobin, is a former policeman sad and moaning and the plot is very clumsy. I don't know T. Culver and C. Clark, but maybe the novels were published in Italy as Westlake.

I like to think I am the biggest fan of Donald Westlake. Not in size, but eagerness to read his next book. Do you think it will be a Dortmunder or a Parker. Or one of his single shots, Like "Brother's Keeper"? I'd be happy to discuss Westlake with you folks. Some other names her wrote under, whose books I have, are Curt Clark and Timonthy Culver. Please write Pete

Hi! I am a German student who needs to find stuff about D. Westlake. I am especially interested in his short story "The winner". Can anybody help me? Then mail me please! Nils

Is this area dead? Have the posts stopped? Am I missing something? I don't see a new post here this year.

Wow..Where is everyone??? Off reading Bad News I hope!! :)

Since this is MysteryNet, I've got a mystery that needs solving, involving my favorite author. My casual search on Amazon.com revealed a Donald Westlake book I never knew existed: "The Scared Stiff," released in 2003. It's another wonderful caper, this one set in a fictitious South American country. Apparently, though, the book was only published in Great Britain, and Westlake doesn't even list it in the bibliography on his website. Does anyone know why?

I think it is because he wrote it under a pseudonym - Judson Jack Carmichael. We don't know for sure if he authored the book alone or with someone else, although the later copies I've seen are under the Westlake name.

I don't see anything after 2001 listed on Westlake's webpage, so maybe it just has not been updated.

There seems to be some mystery involved with some of the books written under a pseudonym. For example, he has written with Lawrence Block under the names of Sheldon Lord & Alan Marshall.