Double Dortmunder

One of my few regrets about attending all sorts of events tangentially related to the Edgars last week was that I was only able to catch a passing glimpse of Donald Westlake, but at least I've been able to get a strong dose of his comic crime fiction since then. First there was Thieves' Dozen, eleven short stories starring John Dortmunder and his crew. (Well, okay, one story is actually about a different crew, led by a fellow named John Rumsey, but it's really a Dortmunder story, even though it isn't.) Each of these capers--well, one really isn't a caper--fits perfectly in the short story format...though it is a bit disconcerting, in the 1999 tale "Now What?", for Dortmunder's cabbie to be a terrorist, and on the Brooklyn Bridge headed into Manhattan...would Westlake try the same plot twist today? Who can say? (Well, he could, I guess, but I didn't know to ask him then!)

Immediately after the stories came the latest Dortmunder novel, The Road to Ruin, and it just goes to show that Westlake's secondary characters are as hilariously well-written as his stars. More story means more people, more points of view, more unexpected twists. And--go figure--when Dortmunder needs a new identity to pull off the inside job at the heart of this novel, he finds himself answering to the name "John Rumsey." (Read the first two chapters.)

And I'm not the only one bulking up on Westlake like this, of course. Terry Mapes did, too, and had a fine time at it.