Donald E. Westlake, prolific and award-winning mystery novelist, died New Year’s Eve while on vacation in Mexico. He was 75. His career spanned 100 books and five screenplays. He received an Academy Award nomination in 1991 for his screenplay for The Grifters. The Mystery Writers of America honored him with three Edgar Awards and in 1993 its highest honor, the title of Grand Master.
Westlake published novels under his own name and under several pseudonyms. Last year the Press began to reprint the early novels Westlake published as Richard Stark, which first appeared in the 1960s. The Stark novels feature the meticulous and ruthless professional thief, Parker. Last fall we released The Hunter, The Man with the Getaway Face, and The Outfit. This spring we will publish Mourner, Score, and Jugger. More will follow.
Last September, Levi Stahl (at whose urgings the Press began the Parker reprint project) conducted an interview with Donald Westlake.
Update: Levi posted a tribute on his blog; Sarah Weinman collects many more on Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind.