Donald Westlake: Hard-Boiled To The End

Fresh Air

Published January 6, 2009 at 11:40 AM EST

Award-winning mystery writer Donald Westlake — the author behind bungling burglar John Dortmunder and the dark-souled gun-for-hire Parker — died from a heart attack on Dec. 31 at the age of 75.

Westlake, who also wrote under the pseudonyms Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, Samuel Holt and Edwin West, produced more than 100 novels and numerous screenplays — including the Academy Award-nominated screenplay for The Grifters.

He was a three-time Edgar Award winner, and was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 1993. A new Westlake novel, titled Get Real, is due in April 2009.

Fresh Air remembers Westlake with interviews from 1988 and 1997.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

Donate

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Federal funding is gone.

Donate