Westlake, Donald Edwin

▪ 2009

      American writer

born July 12, 1933, New York, N.Y.

died Dec. 31, 2008, San Tancho, Mex.

attracted a wide readership as well as great critical acclaim with his stylish crime novels, which numbered more than 100. Among the author's best-known characters was the hapless thief John Dortmunder, the protagonist of such novels as The Hot Rock (1970), Bank Shot (1972), Why Me? (1983), and What's So Funny? (2007). Writing as Richard Stark—one of numerous pseudonyms Westlake employed during his career—he also created a popular series of novels featuring another thief, a ruthless criminal known simply as Parker; among many other titles in the Parker series are The Hunter (1962), The Outfit (1963), The Score (1964), and Slayground (1971). Westlake earned an Academy Award nomination in 1991 for his screenplay for the film The Grifters (1990). He won the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award three times, and the organization bestowed on him the title Grand Master—its highest honour—in 1993.

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