NYC 1950s. In the first volume of the series, Parker roars into New York City, seeking revenge on the woman who betrayed him and on the man who took his money, stealing and scamming his way to redemption. Parker is a pro thief, expert robber. Tough, smart, hardworking, amoral, and relentlessly focused. Do not cross him, or get in his way. He will stop at nothing, kill anyone, to get what he wants. University of Chicago Press has embarked on a project to return the early volumes of this series to print.

Master thief Parker comes to a plastic surgeon in Nebraska with a face that the Outfit—the New York syndicate—wants to decorate with a bullet. But nothing can keep Parker away from his old life of crime—and the major heist of an armored car somewhere in New Jersey.

When the Outfit tries to kill him, Parker declares war. Ripping off the syndicate is easy, but going one-on-one with Bronson, the Outfit's big boss, is the hard part. Hard for anyone but Parker, because the entire underworld understands that whatever Parker does—he does for keep.

The statue wore white and grieved. Parker wasn’t interested in its sentimental value. The thief cared more about retrieving a certain gun that came with it, the one he had used in a previous crime that could incriminate him. By the time Parker comes face to face with the 16-inch-tall alabaster figurine called The Mourner, he knows that stealing it for a rich man and his beautiful, amoral daughter is the least of his worries. New players are coming in every minute, from strutting syndicate boys to a fat man with a heavy accent who is lighter on his feet than he looks. Now in a deadly, treacherous endgame, Parker will find out who intends to bury whom—and why no one will be crying over his grave.

It was an impossible crime: knock off a huge plant payroll, all the banks, and all the stores in one entire city in one night. But there was one thief good enough to try—Parker. All he needed was the right men, the right plan, and the right kind of help from Lady Luck. The men and the plan were easy; Lady Luck was another story. She turned out to be a good-looking blonde with a taste for booze and eyes for Parker. And Parker knew this chilling caper could either be the perfect crime… or a set-up that would land him in jail—for life.

Not many men knew what Parker did for a living, because what he did was steal. But Joe Sheer, a retired safecracker—also known in the business as a jugger—knew. He knew Parker’s alias, his whereabouts, his plans… and because he knew too much, he knew to keep his mouth shut. Or die. But Joe was more than ready to trade what he knew for a soft mattress, windows without bars on them, and what every man needs—his freedom. So Parker had come to Nebraska to find the old jugger… and probably murder him. But what Parker found was trouble: Joe was already six feet under; something very valuable was missing; and somebody was planning a funeral… Parker’s. Too bad for somebody—that Parker wasn’t an easy man to kill.

Why not? Just because no one had ever tried it before? What better place for a heist, if it was timed right, than a football stadium? There'd have to be money in the box office; the game was a sellout. Every eye in the place would be glued to the action down on the field. Even the getaway would be a cinch. Who was going to challenge an ambulance, either going out or coming in? An ambulance, with one of the seven at the wheel in a white uniform, and the swag neatly shrouded in the back. The only problem was changing cars, and Parker had that one figured, too. So, they'd find an abandoned ambulance. Who was to know who'd been driving it? Because by that time Parker and the other six would be back at the hideaway divvying up the loot!

The Baron ran a gambling island off the Texas coast in the Gulf’s blue waters. To Parker, it was just a floating crap game with class. To the Big Boys, it was competition they couldn’t stomach. They wanted a specialist to rob the Baron blind, pluck him like a chicken, and burn this paradise island into the sea. That’s why they sent for Parker. His price was 200 grand in cash and Crystal—a beautiful little blonde. So the pot was sweet, but the heist soon had so many twists it smelled like a brand-new lemon—and Parker knew the line between success and failure on this score would be exactly the length of the barrel of a .38.

When it comes to heists, Parker believes in some cardinal rules. On this job, he breaks two of them: never bring a dame along—especially not one you like—and never, ever, work with amateurs. Nevertheless, with the help of a creep named Billy, and the lure of a classy widow, he agrees to set up a heist of a coin convention. But Billy’s a rookie with no idea how to pull off a score, and the lady soon becomes a major distraction. The Rare Coin Score marks the first appearance of Claire, who will steal Parker’s heister’s heart—while together they steal two million dollars worth of coins.

Here’s Parker—planning to steal the entire payroll of an Air Force base in upstate New York, with help from Marty Fusco, fresh out of the pen, and a smart aleck finance clerk named Devers. Holed up with family in a scrappy little town, the hoisters prepare for the risky job by trying to shorten the odds. But the ice is thinner than Parker likes to think—and Marty’s ex-wife is much more complicated.

A corrupt African colonel has converted half his country's wealth into diamonds and smuggled them to a Manhattan safe house. Four upstanding citizens plan to rescue their new nation by stealing the diamonds back—with the help of a “specialist” — Parker, that is. He has the best references in town. Will Parker break his rule against working with amateurs and help them because his woman would be disappointed if he doesn’t? Or because three hired morons have threatened to kill him and his woman if he does? They thought they were buying an advantage, but what they get is a predated death certificate.

Bank robberies should run like clockwork, right? If your name’s Parker, you expect nothing less. Until, that is, one of your partners gets too greedy for his own good. The four-way split following a job leaves too small a take for George Uhl, who begins to pick off his fellow hoisters, one by one. The first mistake? That he doesn’t begin things by putting a bullet in Parker. That means he won’t get the chance to make a second. One of the darkest novels in the series, this caper proves the adage that no one crosses Parker and lives.

Deadly Edge bids a brutal adieu to the 1960s as Parker robs a rock concert, and the heist goes south. Soon Parker finds himself—and his woman, Claire—menaced by a pair of sadistic, drug-crazed hippies. Parker has a score to settle while Claire’s armed with her first rifle—and they’re both ready to usher in the end of the Age of Aquarius.

The Wheel of Fortune turned and Parker figured his number had finally come up. An armored car heist had gone sour. His partners were dead or dying. He had escaped with the loot, but holing up in a deserted amusement park with only one exit had turned into a fatal mistake. Now the local mob and a couple of crooked cops were on their way in after the money...and the odds were against Parker getting out with his life. But Parker always did like to play the long shots. Besides, he knew all the ways there were to kill: with his gun...with his knife...with his own bare hands. "Super-ingenious. Super-lethal... Parker is super-tough." (New York Times Book Review)

Hearing the click behind him, Parker threw his glass straight back over his right shoulder and dove off his chair to the left. When a job looks like amateur hour, Parker walks away. But even a squad of seasoned professionals can t guarantee against human error in a high-risk scam. Can an art dealer with issues unload a truck of paintings with Parker s aid? Or will the heist end up too much of a human interest story, as luck runs out before Parker can get in on the score?

The sixteenth Parker novel, Butcher’s Moon is more than twice as long most of the master heister’s adventures, and absolutely jammed with the action, violence, and nerve-jangling tension readers have come to expect. Back in the corrupt town where he lost his money, and nearly his life, in Slayground, Parker assembles a stunning cast of characters from throughout his career for one gigantic, blowout job: starting—and finishing—a gang war. It feels like the Parker novel to end all Parker novels, and for nearly twenty-five years that’s what it was. After its publication in 1974, Donald Westlake said, “Richard Stark proved to me that he had a life of his own by simply disappearing. He was gone.” Featuring a new introduction by Westlake’s close friend and writing partner, Lawrence Block, this classic Parker adventures deserve a place of honor on any crime fan’s bookshelf. More than thirty-five years later, Butcher's Moon still packs a punch: keep your calendar clear when you pick it up, because once you open it you won't want to do anything but read until the last shot is fired.

A robbery of a Christian Crusade executed in the heat of the night comes off without a hitch, but it seems that the evangelist, the cops, the criminals, and the church's security officer are all after the loot, in a dark world where no one can be trusted. 20,000 first printing.

Following on the heels of Comeback, a New York Times Notable Book, a new Parker adventure finds the master thief deep in troubled waters when his plan to hijack a riverboat casino goes awry. 20,000 first printing.

Melander likes to do things flashy. When Parker finds himself working with Melander on a bank heist in a mid-sized midwestern city, his job is throwing a Molotov cocktail into a gas station. The resulting explosion sends the cops and fire trucks to the east side of town, while Melander and his gang plunder the bank on the west side. Parker doesn't care for flashy. And he doesn't care for Melander's plan for a new heist, one that will clean out Palm Beach of a lot of very expensive jewelry. But what Parker really dislikes is Melander's intention to use the proceeds from the bank job to capitalize the Palm Beach job . . . including Parker's cut. Melander is very polite about Parker's not wanting to go in on the Florida heist, and very sincere about paying Parker his share . . . with interest . . . after the jewelry job goes down. But that's not the way Parker works. Now he's tailing the gang down South, with his own plan for getting his own back . . . and the entire swag of gems besides.

Parker put down the body and answered the phone. And from that moment on he had two jobs to do. One was to rob a remote Montana lodge where a dot-com billionaire hid stolen art treasures in his basement. The other was to find out why a hit man had come to his home—and who had sent him. Pa

Stuck in jail without bail while awaiting trial, Parker builds a network among his fellow cons to assist him in getting out of trouble, but when he becomes involved in a heist set up by one of his co-conspirators, Parker and his fellow escapees suddenly find themselves on the run for their lives. 20,0000 first printing.

Seven men came to a meeting in Cincinnati. One wore a wire, and another didn't hesitate to kill him-fast and hard. Now Parker has left that meeting and the murder behind, and gotten involved in a scheme that is stuffed with money and trouble. In the rural northwestern corner of Massachusetts, Parker and a pal plan to steal an armored car. But the human element gets in the way. From a nervous ex-con and his well-intentioned sister to a bank manager's two-timing wife and a beautiful, relentless cop, too many people have their hands too close to Parker's pie. Then a bounty hunter, who just happens to be hunting the man who never left the Cincinnati meeting, joins the fray. Parker can see this job turning bad, yet he can't let go of the score. And when guns go off and the heist goes down, the perfect plan will explode with a sound and fury all its own. For Parker, there's always the choice of turning from fight to flight-even if there's nowhere to run...

Sometimes mystery master Donald E. Westlake is the author of uproarious crime capers. Sometimes he has a mean streak-and its name is Parker. From his noir classic The Man with the Getaway Face to his recent novel Nobody Runs Forever, whenever Westlake writes as Stark, he lets Parker run loose-a ruthless criminal in a world of vulnerable "straights." On a sunny October afternoon a man is running up a hill. He's not dressed for running. Below him are barking police dogs and waiting up ahead is a stranger-with a rifle, a life full of regrets, and a parrot at home who will mutely witness just how much trouble the runner, Parker, can bring into an ordinary life. The rabbit hunter is Tom Lindahl, a small-town lonely heart nursing a big-time grudge against the racetrack that fired him. He knows from the moment he sees Parker that he's met a professional thief-and a man with murder in his blood. Rescuing Parker from the chase hounds, Lindahl invites the fugitive into his secluded home. He plans to rip off his former employer and exact a deadly measure of revenge-if he can get Parker to help. But Tom doesn't know Parker and that the desperate criminal will do anything to survive-no matter who has to die...

Master criminal Parker takes another turn for the worse as he tries to recover loot from a heist gone terribly wrong. In Nobody Runs Forever, Parker and two cohorts stole the assets of a bank in transit, but the police heat was so great they could only escape if they left the money behind. In this follow-up novel, Parker and his associates plot to reclaim the loot, which they hid in the choir loft of an unused country church. As they implement the plan, people on both sides of the law use the forces at their command to stop Parker and grab the goods for themselves. Though Parker's new getaway van is an old Ford Econoline with "Holy Redeemer Choir" on its doors, his gang is anything but holy, and Parker will do whatever it takes to redeem his prize, no matter who gets hurt in the process. .