Novelist and screenwriter Donald E. Westlake died Friday of a heart attack at age seventy-five. Westlake who began publishing in 1960, wrote more than one hundred books under his name and several pseudonyms, including Richard Stark, Rolfe Passer, Tucker Coe, Barbara Wilson, and so many others that he once quipped that it was probably impossible for people to believe one person could produce so much work.
His crime writing earned copious acclaim. He won three Edgar awards from the Mystery Writers of America, and his screenplay of Jim Thompson’s novel The Grifters resulted in an excellent film and earned him an Academy Award nomination. Fifteen of his own novels were adapted to film, including 1972’s The Hot Rock, with Robert Redford, and 1999’s Payback, with Mel Gibson.
Like many pulp authors, Westlake wrote a few erotica novels, these under the pen names Alan Marshall, John Dexter, and others. Curiously, a visit to Westlake’s official website finds no mention of Marshall, which we count as an official disavowal. Nevertheless, you see an Alan Marshall cover below. Westlake said he published under so many names because it would have been unbelievable that one person wrote so much. His feverish output will continue even after death—his latest novel Get Real is due to be published in April.
