Why Me? (The Dortmunder Novels)

“A perfect formula thriller, only Westlake yanks the formula inside out!” — Newsweek “I found myself racing along with pleasure and gratitude.” — New York Times “[Westlake’s] most durable character. ... Whatever can go wrong in the man’s elaborate attempts at larceny invariably does, and in the most amusing and unexpected ways possible.” — Los Angeles Times Donald E. Westlake (1933–2008) was one of the most prolific and talented authors of American crime fiction. He began his career in the late 1950s, churning out novels for pulp houses—often writing as many as four novels a year under various pseudonyms—but soon began publishing under his own name. His most well known characters were John Dortmunder, an unlucky thief, and a ruthless criminal named Parker. His writing earned him three Edgars and a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America.xa0Westlake’s cinematic prose and brisk dialogue made his novels attractive to Hollywood, and several motion pictures were made from them, with stars such as Lee Marvin and Mel Gibson. Westlake wrote several screenplays himself, receiving an Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of The Grifters , Jim Thompson’s noir classic.