Writer Stephen King has always loved Donald E. Westlake.
He liked the author when he wrote his comic mysteries, and loved him more when
Westlake wrote under the pen name (one of a few) of Richard Stark, using the criminal
anti-hero, hard-boiled, and relentless Parker as main protagonist. And its
because of King’s love for this writer (who he paid homage to in the 1989 novel
The Dark Half), that I have decided to read some of his books.
Westlake was prolific writer, penning 28 novels under the
Stark name alone (24 featuring Parker), and 14 (along will 11 short stories)
featuring his comic protagonist John Dortmunder. This character, by the way, was
accidently born when Westlake was writing the 1970 novel The Hot Rock, which was
to feature Parker and go out under the Stark name. That plot, however, involved
a precious gem that is stolen, lost, reacquired, stolen again, lost again (and
so forth), which seemed too comic a situation for a hard-boiled creation like
Parker. Westlake therefore rewrote the novel with a more bumbling and likable
cast of characters, led by a pessimistic, hard-luck professional thief. I’m
going to read a few of those in the coming weeks.
Westlake also published books under multiple pseudonyms.
Beyond the Stark name, he used up to 17 different authors’ names, publishing in
a variety genres (Westlake acknowledged writing as many as 28 paperback
soft-porn titles from 1959–64 under the name of Alan Marshall, along with
veteran mystery writer Lawrence Block).
In between writing Parker and Dortmunder novels, Westlake also
wrote a bunch of stand alone comic mysteries, and 1969’s Somebody Owes Me Money is my first
Donald E. Westlake novel:
“Cab driver Chet Conway was hoping for a good tip from
his latest fare, the sort he could spend. But what he got was a tip on a horse
race. Which might have turned out okay, except that when he went to collect his
winnings, Chet found his bookie lying dead on the living room floor. Chet knows
he had nothing to do with it-but just try explaining that to the cops, to the
two rival criminal gangs who each think Chet's working for the other, and to
the dead man's beautiful sister, who has flown in from Las Vegas to avenge her
brother's murder.”
This is a fun page-turner with some brilliant
dialogue along with your basic mistaken identity plot. What works here is that
Westlake creates a plausible plot (and even though published 50 years
ago, nothing seems outdated), great conflicts and believable characters. It’s a
light, almost wacky caper with an uncomplicated plot, which is great if you’re
tired of real life. The book does have a sort of metafictional ending that does
seem out of place, and I’m curious if this was the books original ending or was
it changed years later for the Hard Case imprint line? When Chet figures out
whodunnit (and one I did not suspect),
Abbie blurts out, "You wouldn't get away with that in
a mystery story."
It was a surprise -in both who killed Tommy and Abbie uttering those words, and I felt taken a
bit, but all in all, a very enjoyable romp.
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