Prolific mystery writer Donald Westlake dead at 75

Last edited by Phil Whitley on Thu Jan 01, 2009 5:55 pm; edited 1 time in total

Dick, you have probably already heard this sad news, but I thought I would post it here for all.

LINK to ARTICLE quoted below.

Quote :: NEW YORK – Prolific mystery writer Donald Westlake has died at the age of 75.

Westlake's
wife, Abigail, tells The New York Times the author collapsed as he
headed to a New Year's Eve dinner while on vacation in Mexico. His wife
says he apparently had a heart attack.

Westlake
is considered one of the most successful mystery writers in the United
States. He won three Edgar Awards and was nominated for an Academy
Award for screenplay writing for "The Grifters."

Westlake
wrote more than 100 books. He used his own name and several pseudonyms,
including Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, Samuel Holt and Edwin West.
Westlake continued to write. His next novel, "Get Real," is scheduled to be released in April 2009.

THIS is a crying shame. He is one of the handful of writers I always check for new books from.

His Dortmunder series is practically a genre unto itself.

His lesser-known mainstream works, such as Kahawa are on a par with any writer alive.

A wonderful writer and a great guy who you will never meet a single person who has a bad word for.

Will be greatly missed.

And I'll bet that his new novel "Get Real" will be one of his top sellers when it comes out in April. Funny how that works...

He will be missed

I'm so sorry to hear that. He'll be missed.

I met him a few times at MWA functions and he was a true gentleman. Surprisingly mild-mannered considering some of the things he wrote. It is a bit of a shock to realize how few of the people I first met when I began attending various MWA events are still alive today. Many who were big names at the time are forgotten today.