Richard Stark Books In Order

Publication Order of Parker Books

Publication Order of Alan Grofield Books

Publication Order of Parker Graphic Novels Books

Donald E. Westlake was a prolific and award-winning mystery author, who throughout his lifetime managed to pen down more than 100 books and five screenplays using his manual typewriter. Mr. Donald Edward Westlake is considered as one of the most versatile and successful mystery writers of all time. He has not only received an Academy Award nomination for one of his screenplays, but he has also been awarded three Edgar Awards together with the Grand Master title by the Mystery Writers of America. Ever since Random House published his first novel, The Mercenaries in the year 1960, Mr. Donald Westlake had already authored under his real names and pseudonyms including Richard Stark, Samuel Holt, Tucker Coe and Edwin West. Irrespective of the diversity of the pen names, a majority of his books shared one common feature; they were all set in the city of New York, which is the author’s birthplace.

To combat skepticism over his swift rate of writing books, Mr. Westlake had to use different names. According to his friends, there are instances when Mr. Westlake could pen down up to four novels in the same year. However, later on in Mr. Westlake’s career, he was forced to only use two pen names, with each focusing on only one primary character. Westlake used his real names to write about John Dortmunder, an unintentionally comical criminal and using Richard Stark, he penned down a series, which focused on the life of a criminal, and anti-hero who was known as Parker. From time to time, Mr. Westlake used to write about other characters such as the downsized executive who later became a murderer in the novel, The Ax.

The author’s cinematic style of storytelling together with the crisp dialogue and the carefully crafted plots have translated well on the screen. Fifteen of his books have already been adapted for a screenplay. Furthermore, apart from penning down novels, Westlake also wrote several screenplays such as the Grifters, which received an Academy Award nomination. Mr. Donald Westlake wrote throughout the week, and this was due to the fact that most of the publishing houses published books at an unrelenting price. According to one of the editors, the author’s books were always brought in carefully typed with minimal or no mistake at all. Many at times, these books always felt as if they written by hand, thus giving Mr. Westlake an edge over other writers. Donald E. Westlake was born to Albert and Lilian Westlake in Brooklyn, New York on July 12, 1933. He was raised in Albany and Yonkers.

Westlake attended colleges located in New York, though never graduated. In the year 1979, Westlake married Abigail Adams, and the two settled in Gallatin, New York. Mr. Donald Westlake was previously married to Sandra Kalb and Nendra Henderson. Apart from his wife, Westlake is also survived by 4 sons, Steven Westlake, Tod Westlake, Sean Westlake and Paul Westlake. Two step daughters, Katherine and Adrienne Adams, a sister, Virginia and a stepson, Patrick Adams.

Pseudonyms

Apart from writing using his real names, Donald E. Westlake has also published several books using numerous pseudonyms. They are as follows;

Richard Stark: One of the author’s best-known and continuing pseudonym is that of Richard Stark. The pen name Richard Stark debuted in the year 1959 with the Mystery Digest. Four other short stories followed, and they include The Curious Facts Preceding my Execution, which was published in the year 1961 together with the author’s short story collection. Then from the year 1962 to the year1974, 16 novels about the remorseless and relentless professional thief known as Parker together with his accomplices. From then on, Stark became inactive until the year 1997, when Donald Westlake decided to once again, publish his books under this pen name. In the year 2008, the University of Chicago began to republish the novels, which were published under the name of Richard Stark. As an homage to Westlake, renowned author Stephen King decided to name the main villain in the book, Dark Half, George Stark.

Alan Marshall: Mr. Westlake accepted to writing numerous soft-porn paper backs using the pen name of Allan Marshall from the year 1959 to the year 1964. Some of the books published include Man Hungry, All My Lovers, Virgin’s Summer, Call Me Sinner, Sally and All About Annett. He also penned down three books, which featured the character, Phil Crawford. They include All The Girls Were Willing, Sin Prowl and Apprentice Virgin. Mr. Westlake is not the only person who has used the pen name of Marshall. This is due to the fact the publishers were willing to pay more for names that they knew already existed or they would purchase those names. Thus, it became a common practice to loan out these pen names to friends. Towards the end of 1961, six of his friends had been given the go ahead of publishing their books under this pen name.

Writing Style

M. Westlake was widely known for the audacity of his gimmicks and the inventiveness of his plots. His dialogue and writing are lively. The protagonists that the author created were not only believable but fully rounded and exceedingly clever. One of the most famous character to be created by the author is the unsentimental criminal, Parker who has been featured in the author’s books written under the pseudonym of Stark. There was a time when Mr. Westlake said, that when he was writing the novel, The Hot Rock, he had initially planned it to be a straightforward novel, but from time to time it kept on turning funny; thus it ended up becoming the first installment in the Dortmunder series.

A majority of the author’s novels have been set in the city of New York. In every installment in the Dortmunder book series, there is usually a detailed assault somewhere throughout the entire city. Mr. Westlake penned down, only two non-fiction novels, Under an English Heaven, which was about the Anguillan revolution and the other book was a biography of Elizabeth Taylor. From time to time, Westlake was a contributor to several science fiction magazines such as Xero, which he used it to announce that he was leaving the field of science fiction