Books in series
#1
The Hot Rock
1970
John Archibald Dortmunder is the thief whose capers never quite come off. Here, the released convict and his ride pal Kelp plot to steal the $500,000 Balaboma Emerald. The former British colony has recently become independent and split. The Akinzi have the stone, the Talabwo want it back, and their UN rep will pay for retrieval.
#2
Bank Shot
1972
When John Dortmunder sets out to rob a bank, he really means it. He steals the whole thing. With the help of his usual crew, as well as a sophomoric ex-FBI man and a militant safecracker, Dortmunder puts a set of wheels under a trailer that just happens to be the temporary site of the Capitalists' & Immigrants' Trust Corp.
When the safe won't open and the cops close in, Dortmunder realizes he's got to find a place—somewhere in suburban Long Island—to hide a bank.
"One of the funniest conceptions you're going to come across...the ending is hilarious." (The New York Times)
#3
Jimmy The Kid
1974
Here's the five-member Dortmunder Gang trying to achieve the perfect crime by following a paperback novel. They intend to follow the book's blueprint for a child heist in order to succeed at last at something crooked. But, they never counted on this 12-year-old kid!
#4
Nobody's Perfect
1977
Comic crime hero Dortmunder and his gang of bungling thieves are back in a hilarious caper—out of print since 1979. Mishaps and misunderstandings force the gang to steal a painting not once but twice in this hilarious misadventure starring the inimitable Dortmunder. Reissue.
#5
Why Me?
1983
The Byzantine Fire: 90 carats of flawless ruby with great national and religious significance. It's the biggest heist of Dortmunder's career, making him the target of everyone from the FBI to the Turkish government. Now Dortmunder has to find a way to unsteal the heist of a lifetime...
#6
Good Behavior
1986
(6th Title in the Dortmunder series)
John Dortmunder's one of the slyest burglars going. But by God, he has bad luck! While fleeing the police during his latest caper, he falls through the roof of the Silent Sisterhood of St. Filumena—and tumbles into the lap of trouble. It's an act of God, the sisters exclaim. Only the Creator himself could have sent this criminal just when they need him. Sure, they'll shelter him from the cops. But there's a price: He must help them to retrieve their youngest and newest member from her father's clutches. This promises to get sticky. Dear old dad hates the Sisterhood like the plague. And he happens to have an odd hobby: putting together mercenary armies. Why can't Dortmunder just catch a break?
"Westlake's most entertaining yet." (Publishers Weekly)
#7
Drowned Hopes
1990
Bumbling comic criminal John Dortmunder is in hot water as he tries to keep a nasty old man from blowing up a dam to unearth $750,000. Dortmunder must devise a safer scheme to get the loot... before the old coot's trigger finger gets too itchy.
#8
Don't Ask
1993
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.
#9
What's The Worst That Could Happen?
1996
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.
#10
Bad News
2001
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.
#11
The Road To Ruin
2004
Ever-lovable but hapless crook John Dortmunder and his merry band of misfits attempt to drive off with a fleet of vintage automobiles in a con against a corrupt CEO who has lavished more of his company's money on himself than the boys at Enron and WorldCom combined.
#12
Thieves' Dozen
2004
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."
#13
Watch Your Back!
2005
- 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.
#14
What's So Funny?
2007
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.
#15
Get Real
2009
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.
Author
Donald E. Westlake
Author · 73 books
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 1950's, churning out novels for pulp houses—often writing as many as four novels a year under various pseudonyms such as Richard Stark—but soon began publishing under his own name. His most well-known characters were John Dortmunder, an unlucky thief, and Parker, a ruthless criminal. His writing earned him three Edgar Awards: the 1968 Best Novel award for God Save the Mark; the 1990 Best Short Story award for "Too Many Crooks"; and the 1991 Best Motion Picture Screenplay award for The Grifters. In addition, Westlake also earned a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1993. Westlake's cinematic prose and brisk dialogue made his novels attractive to Hollywood, and several motion pictures were made from his books, 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. Some of the pseudonyms he used include • Richard Stark • Timothy J. Culver • Tucker Coe • Curt Clark • J. Morgan Cunningham • Judson Jack Carmichael • D.E. Westlake • Donald I. Vestlejk • Don Westlake
