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Donald Westlake Message Board 7/18/2006 6:55:43 PM
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Westlake has written!

Author Westlake's Book Reviews

Baby, Would I Lie?
Sara and Jack are back! Now doing Real Journalism, Sara is sent to Branson, MO to observe the trial of a famous country and western singer - for murder. The question of the year: did he do it, or didn't he? Fabulous description of the settings and some truly hysterical c&w lyrics just add to the joy of this book....
Brothers Keepers
Brother Benedict is a monk of an order that doesn't believe in travel. But when the order's monastary is sold, travel he does - to do battle with greedy owners and corporations, and to fall in love with the owner's daughter. Will Brother Benedict be able to save the monastary? Will he be able to save himself *for* the monastary? ...
Dancing Aztecs
When a valuable statue, worth millions, is mixed in with a bunch of plaster copies and shipped to New York, everyone is on its trail - especially a small-time thief and con artist who wouldn't mind the money. Aztec, Aztec, who's got the Aztec? A little dated, but gaspingly funny....
Don't Ask
Dortmunder and crew have to steal a bone, a saint's femur, to help a new nation gain admission to the UN. When the theft goes awry and Dortmunder is kidnapped, it's time for him to get revenge. Another hysterical Dortmunder book....

Westlake booklist

Drowned Hopes
Dortmunder's old cell mate, Tom, is released from jail and wants help recovering a stash of 750k. Problem - in the years he was in jail, the state of New York put a reservoir over the city where the money is buried. In order to prevent Tom from breaking the dam and killing a whole bunch of people, Dortmunder's got to find a way to get that money. But the reservoir is fighting back......
God Save the Mark
Donald E. Westlake Forge, Jan 2004, 14.95 ISBN: 0765309181 Copy editor Fred Fitch is so famous as the king of marks, con artists come from everywhere to take him for a buck or three. Grifters visiting New York include Fred as one of their prime tourist stops for no vacation is complete without taking Fred for a ride. Fred is not insane, but he believes in the basic goodness of humanity so that he trusts people until that person rips him off. ...
Good Behavior
A robbery goes wrong, and Dortmunder is trapped in a nunnery. The nuns aren't going to tell - provide Dortmunder finds a way to rescue their newest member, Sister Mary Grace. Sister Mary Grace's father, a super rich businessman, has had her kidnapped from the nunnery and is trying to deprogram her out of the Catholic Church. Problem: she's a prisoner at the top of a skyscraper her father owns, and she's under tight security. Dortmunder *has* to find ...
Money for Nothing
Donald E Westlake Mysterious, Apr 2003, 24.95, 294 pp. ISBN: 0892967870 Advertising executive Josh Redmont waits for the ferry to take him to Fire Island where he will join his wife and child on vacation. However, a stranger informs John that "You are now active." For seven years, John has been the recipient of a monthly one grand check from the United States Agency that he thought was an error, but eventually from his country. Now this USA wan...
Nobody's Perfect
A wealthy spendthrift hires Dortumnder and gang to steal his own painting (insurance fraud), and they do. But things gang agley, as usual, and suddenly Dortmunder's under a death sentence - he's got six months to find the painting or a replica...somehow...or else....
Put A Lid On It
Francis Xavier Meehan is a thief - normally, a pretty good one. But some unforeseen problems with his last job have landed him in a federal prison (that truck was supposed to be full of computer chips, not U.S. mail), awaiting trial, conviction, and permanent imprisonment. A member of the President's re-election committee, who offers him a deal. Meehan can get out of jail free, and his crimes will disappear - provided he steals some hard evidence, cur...

Donald Westlake list of books

The Hook
Take two professional writers -- a bestselling superstar with writer's block, and a longtime author with dying sales (he's published under two pseudonyms for fresh starts that nevertheless faded) -- and you have the makings of a plan. The bestseller suggests that he submit the veteran's latest manuscript as his own to satisfy his agent and publisher (not to mention the clamoring fans), and the two authors split the inevitably huge advance fifty-fifty. Th...
The Hot Rock
In this, the first Dortmunder novel, Dortmunder and his crew are hired to steal a famous emerald. And they do - or at least attempt to - over and over again: by train, by helicopter, by hypnotism. Unfortunately, the emerald is always one step ahead of them. Hilarious....
Trust Me on This
Sara Joslyn used to be a normal reporter for a small New England newspaper; when it closed, she took a job at the Galaxy, the world's largest supermarket tabloid. On her way to work the first day, she finds a dead body. She's got to investigate the murder, adapt to tabloid life, get the stories, and deal with her editor. The descriptions of tabloid journalism make this book....
What's the Worst That Could Happen?
On a simple burglery job, Dortmunder is surprised by the householder, a super rich entrepeneur, who steals Dortmunder's ring from off his finger. Dortmunder swears revenge, and gets it - striking in New York and D.C. before the big showdown in Las Vegas. Marvelous....
Why Me
During a routine burglery at a small-time jewelry store, Dortmunder accidentally steals the Byzantine Fire, a ruby of immense historical and political significance. Now everyone's after him - the FBI, the NYPD, every terrorist in world, even the New York criminal underground - and he's got to find a way to get rid of the ruby and reclaim his good name. ...