Upcoming classic thrillers, Library of America.

On January 3, the Library of America announced some of its fall 2023 releases, which included the following:

(1) Five Classic Thrillers 1961–1964 (The Murderers by Fredric Brown, The Name of the Game Is Death by Dan J. Marlowe, Dead Calm by Charles Williams, The Expendable Man by Dorothy B. Hughes, The Score by Richard Stark [Donald Westlake])

(2) Four Classic Thrillers 1964–1969 (The Fiend by Margaret Millar, Doll by Ed McBain [Evan Hunter], Run Man Run by Chester Himes, The Tremor of Forgery by Patricia Highsmith)

Below are some critics' reactions to the works in these volumes.

Re Brown's The Murderers: Sgt. Cuff [John Winterich] in 30 Sept. 1961 Saturday Review dubbed it "highly amative."

Re Highsmith's Tremor of Forgery: Terrence Rafferty in the 4 Jan. 1988 New Yorker dubbed the book "nihilistic."

Re Himes's Run Man Run: Sgt. Cuff in the 31 Dec. 1966 Saturday Review regarded this as a "[t]aut, devilish, ably-written slice of life—and death."

Re Hughes's Expendable Man (Edgar nominee, Best Novel): Kirkus lauded its "savage momentum."

Re Marlowe's The Name of the Game Is Death: Anthony Boucher in the 11 Feb 1962 New York Times believed that Marlowe had reached "an impressive new high."

Matthew Surridge on The Best of Manhunt.

On Splice Today, Matthew Surridge reviews Stark House Press's The Best of Manhunt, an anthology of stories from an important crime fiction magazine that published authors such as Lawrence Block, David Goodis, Evan Hunter, John D. MacDonald, and Donald Westlake.

Westlake film series, New York, May 12-14.

As the University of Chicago Press blog notes, the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, NY, will host the program "Crime Scenes" on May 12-14 featuring films adapted from the works of Donald Westlake (aka Richard Stark). These are the following:

• Point Blank, May 12 (also includes commentary by Abby Westlake, Luc Sante, and Levi Stahl)

• The Grifters, May 13
• The Stepfather, May 13
• Cops and Robbers, May 14
• Made in USA, May 14
• The Hot Rock, May 14
• The Outfit, May 14 (read George Pelecanos's take on the film)

Happy birthday, Donald Westlake: Bank Shot (1974).

Versatile mystery author Donald Westlake (aka Richard Stark) was born today in Brooklyn in 1933. This adaptation of Westlake's 1972 Dortmunder novel Bank Shot by screenwriter-producer Wendell Mayes (Anatomy of a Murder, Death Wish, Von Ryan's Express) features criminal mastermind Walter Ballantine (played by George C. Scott), who decides to pull a bank heist by removing an entire bank from its location. Dancer-choreographer Gower Champion directed the film; co-stars include Bob Balaban, Sorrell Brooke, and Joanna Cassidy.

Of related interest: clips from the soundtrack for Bank Shot.

Clues vol. 33 now in Kindle format.

For those with e-readers: Clues 33.1 and Clues 33.2 (Patricia Highsmith issue) are now available in Kindle format.

Clues 33.1 (2015)
• Kindle version
• Abstracts

Clues 33.2 (2015; theme issue on Patricia Highsmith, with new revelations about Per Wahlöö)

• Kindle version
• Abstracts

Clues 33.1: Westlake, Leonard, Reichs, et al.

Clues 33.1 has been published; see below for abstracts. Contact McFarland for issue orders and subscriptions.

Update. The issue is now available on Nook and Kindle.

Introduction  JANICE M. ALLAN
Now You See Her—Now You Don’t: 
Household Spies in Aurora Floyd and Lady Audley’s Secret RACHEL SMILLIE (U Aberdeen) In Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s novels the female domestic servant enjoys a uniquely privileged position; she is granted admittance to the most intimate spaces of the home and given unfettered access to the family’s secrets. By focusing on the role of the female servant as household spy, this essay explores the control these women are able to exercise over their respective narratives.

“Something in a New Key”: Democratizing Poe’s Ratiocination in Psych and Elementary PATRICK KENT RUSSELL (U-Conn) Psych (2006–14) and Elementary (2013–) take steps to democratize Edgar Allan Poe’s ratiocination. Early seasons of Psych take a greater step by providing viewing audiences access to clues and lessons in what to observe. Seasons 1 and 2 of Elementary also show lessons, but as character development, rather than to redistribute necessary knowledge.

Far from Home and Near to Harm: Mazes, Rhizomes, and Illusory Domestic Spaces in Richard Stark’s Parker Novels GREGORY ALAN PHIPPS  This article considers the construction of Richard Stark’s Parker novels in relation to the symbolic models of the maze and the rhizome. These function in the Parker novels as frameworks that capture the structural forms of various spaces, social encounters, and modes of subjectivity.

Scarlet Fever: Communism, Crime, and Contagion in James Ellroy’s The Big Nowhere JOSHUA MEYER
 (U of Western Sydney) Throughout James Ellroy’s The Big Nowhere, the threat of communism and the institutional anxiety it engenders is played out through a series of symbolic associations among communism, crime, and contagion. Ellroy’s figuration of communism as a form of criminal contagion takes up underlying tensions involved with the discourse of typology that runs through the detective genre.

Coming from U-Chicago Press: Oppenheim, Westlake.

The arrival of the fat fall catalog from University of Chicago Press indicated that some goodies are in store for mystery fans:

• New paperback editions of spy fiction and thriller pioneer E. Phillips Oppenheim's The Great Impersonation (1920) and The Spy Paramount (1935). Both are out in September, distrib. for the British Library.

• Consistent with the press' reprinting of the Richard Stark novels of the late Donald Westlake is a new volume, The Getaway Car: Donald Westlake Nonfiction Miscellany (introd. Lawrence Block, out in September). This book includes interviews, lively pieces from an unpublished autobiography, and tributes to fellow writers. 

Photo from The Great Impersonation (1935),
starring Edmund Lowe and Valerie Hobson

Free ebook by Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake).

Fans of Donald Westlake, rejoice: University of Chicago Press is offering a free ebook during September of The Score, one of Westlake's Parker novels under the pseudonym Richard Stark.

Happy birthday, Donald Westlake.

Westlake in Germany, 2008

Donald Westlake—Edgar winner for God Save the Mark (1967) and "Too Many Crooks" (1989), Oscar nominee for the screenplay to The Grifters, MWA Grand Master, and recipient of PWA's Eye Award for lifetime achievement—was born today in Brooklyn in 1933. University of Chicago Press and Hard Case Crime have reissued some of his Richard Stark novels; a graphic novel of The Hunter is available from IDW Publishing. He died in 2008.

Graphic arts picks from the Seminary Co-op.

Staff from Chicago's Seminary Co-op Bookstore pick their favorite graphic works (listed here and here), such as Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives (vol. 1), The Cartoon Introduction to Economics (if only this had been published before I suffered through my micro-macro econ course),  and Donald Westlake's and Darwyn Cooke's Parker: The Hunter. My favorite is Action Philosophers ("Plato! Wrestling Superstar of Ancient Greece!").
(Thanks to UChiBLOGo)

Write Parker flash fiction, win Parker novels.

Chicago's Seminary Co-op Bookstores are running a contest: write a 350-word flash fiction story about a bookstore heist featuring Richard Stark's Parker; get a chance to win the University of Chicago Press reissues of the novels of Stark (one persona of the late Donald Westlake). Second prize is the graphic novel The Hunter, which also features Parker. Deadline is June 14.

Graphic novel of Richard Stark's The Hunter.

The University of Chicago Press, which has reprinted several of the Parker books by Richard Stark (aka the late Donald Westlake), discusses on its blog the latest Parker incarnation: a graphic novel version of The Hunter issued by IDW Publishing. The Comics Reporter has this interview with the artist, Darwyn Cooke.

Three Richard Stark reprints from University of Chicago Press.

The University of Chicago Press blogs about its three new reprints of novels by Richard Stark (aka the late Donald Westlake)—The Mourner, The Score, and The Jugger, all with forewords by John Banville (aka Benjamin Black) —although I was startled to read in the press release that "Richard Stark is available for interviews." Via The Twilight Zone, perhaps?

Donald Westlake, John D. MacDonald.

To add a small mite to the various items around the Internet on the late Donald Westlake: At left is an utterly charming photograph on loan from Maynard MacDonald. Westlake is on the left, John D. MacDonald on the right.

The return of the Parker novels by Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake).

The University of Chicago Press blog talks about the press's reissue of the Parker novels (The Hunter; The Man with the Getaway Face; Outfit) by Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake). Go here for further details and an interview with the author.