Dortmunder Books
The Hot Rock introduces John Archibald Dortmunder, the thief whose capers never quite come off, as he and his convict friends plot to steal the fabulous Balaboma Emerald.
Five men are seized by an ingenious idea when a local bank is temporarily housed in a trailer
Hungry for money, a gang of losers led by bumbling burglar John Dortmunder attempts to carry out a caper that involves the kidnapping of a twelve-year-old prodigy. Reissue. NYT.
The hapless Dortmunder gang, hired to hoist a priceless oil painting from a fashionable East Side Manhattan townhouse, runs into trouble after meeting up with a group of drunken Scots, tourists and several strange Jet Setters
Having unsuspectingly lifted the hottest rock in town, John Dortmunder is the prey of the FBI, the New York City police, terrorist groups from three nations, and all of New York's petty and not-so-petty crooks
A bungled burglary leaves master thief John Archibald Dortmunder at the mercy of a congregation of hard-nosed devout nuns who charge him to recover the kidnapped Sister Mary Grace in exchange for their silence
Learning about a disagreeable old man's plot to dynamite a dam in order to reclaim a buried fortune beneath the reservoir, John Dortmunder fears for the hundreds of potential drowning victims and plans another way to get the treasure. Reissue.
In his latest caper, Dortmunder is hired to steal the femur of a 16-year-old girl who was canonized because, 800 years ago, she was killed and eaten by her family. Now two European countries and the Catholic church are fighting like dogs over the bone. How will this free-for-all end? Don't Ask.
Dortmunder is in the midst of a routine burglary of a Long Island mansion when who shows up toting a gun but the owner, nasty billionaire Max Fairbanks. Worse, Fairbanks takes Dortmunder's supposedly lucky ring. Highly insulted, Dortmunder and his gang execute their own peculiar reign of terror, and although they acquire quite a bit of Fairbanks' swag, they never quite get the ring back. Which leads Dortmunder to wonder precisely what sort of luck the ring carries.
John Dortmunder doesn't like manual labor. So when he gets the offer of money to dig up a grave, he balks . . . then he wonders why Fitzroy Guilderpost, criminal mastermind, wants to pull a switcheroo of two 70-years-dead Indians.
"Pariah!" Monroe Hall wishes that people would stop using that word. So what if he was born rich but scammed his own conglomerate for more than the boys from Enron and WorldCom combined? And so what if he takes a little pleasure in reporting people to the IRS, or stealing quarters from visitors to his home? Does that mean he has to be a "pariah"? The truth is, poor old Monroe can't find anyone to staff his sprawling, antique-laden Pennsylvania estate. Until, by a stroke of utterly undeserved luck, a wonderful group of servants arrives at Monroe's door with spotless credentials and a remarkable willingness to please. For Dortmunder's crew, going to work for Monroe is like kids being let loose in a candy store. When it comes time to start emptying the place of its treasure - especially those vintage automobiles - Dortmunder makes a sobering discovery: There are some people out there who just hate Monroe Hall. Now the pariah has vanished and the police are at the door. And as everyone knows, whenever there's mischief in a mansion...the butler did it!
Featuring Westlake's hapless hero John Dortmunder, this original compilation of short stories ties in to the author's latest Dortmunder hardcover, "The Road to Ruin."
'- After a year on the lam, the return of bumbling thief Dortmunder is a cause celebre. The author's most recent Dortmunder caper. "The Road to Ruin, and the short story collection, "Thieves' Dozen, received rave reviews in the "New York Times Book Review, New York Daily News, and "Kirkus Reviews (starred review), among other publications.- "Money for Nothing (Mysterious Press, 4/03) and "Put a Lid On It (Mysterious Press, 2002), two stand-alone mysteries, have sold over 68,000 hardcover and paperback copies combined.- Hollywood loves Dortmunder, too. "What's the Worst That Could Happen?, starring Martin Lawrence and Danny DeVito, was a major motion picture in 2001.- Donald E. Westlake was named Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master (1993); has won Edgar Allan Poe Awards for Best Novel, Screenplay, and Short Story; and was nominated for an Academy Award* for Best Adapted Screenplay for "The Grifters.
In his classic caper novels, Donald E. Westlake turns the world of crime and criminals upside down. The bad get better, the good slide a bit, and Lord help anyone caught between a thief named John Dortmunder and the current object of his intentions. Now Westlake's seasoned but often scoreless crook must take on an impossible crime, one he doesn't want and doesn't believe in. But a little blackmail goes a long way in... WHAT'S SO FUNNY? All it takes is a few underhanded moves by a tough ex-cop named Eppick to pull Dortmunder into a game he never wanted to play. With no choice, he musters his always-game gang and they set out on a perilous treasure hunt for a long-lost gold and jewel-studded chess set once intended as a birthday gift for the last Romanov czar, which unfortunately reached Russia after that party was over. From the moment Dortmunder reaches for his first pawn, he faces insurmountable odds. The purloined past of this precious set is destined to confound any strategy he finds on the board. Success is not inevitable with John Dortmunder leading the attack, but he's nothing if not persistent, and some gambit or other might just stumble into a winning move.
In Donald E. Westlake's classic caper novels, the bad get better, the good slide a bit, and Lord help anyone caught between a thief named John Dortmunder and the current object of his attention. However, being caught red-handed is inevitable in Dortmunder's next production, when a TV producer convinces this thief and his merry gang to do a reality show that captures their next score. The producer guarantees to find a way to keep the show from being used in evidence against them. They're dubious, but the pay is good, so they take him up on his offer. A mock-up of the OJ bar is built in a warehouse down on Varick Street. The ground floor of that building is a big open space jumbled with vehicles used in TV world, everything from a news truck and a fire engine to a hansom cab (without the horse). As the gang plans their next move with the cameras rolling, Dortmunder and Kelp sneak onto the roof of their new studio to organize a private enterprise. It will take an ingenious plan to outwit viewers glued to their television sets, but Dortmunder is nothing if not persistent, and he's determined to end this shoot with money in his pockets.