The Getaway Car: A Donald Westlake Nonfiction Miscellany

Westlake's (1933–2008) half-century writing career—much of which he spent as one of a dozen or so alter egos, pouring his creative soul into crime, some sf, and what his friend and collaborator Lawrence Block calls "Midcentury Erotica"—produced more than 100 books and introduced crime-fiction legends John Dortmunder and Parker, among a stable of memorable characters, to the author's readers. Westlake's nonfiction is less well known. Stahl (promotions director, Univ. of Chicago Pr.) collects a hodgepodge of obscure and previously unpublished pieces, including fragments of autobiography, essays on genre and the writing life, interviews and letters, recipes for "May's Famous Tuna Casserole" and "Sloth a la Dortmunder," and a 1960 screed to the editors of the sf fanzine Xero that Stahl deems "one of the most spectacular acts of bridge burning in the history of publishing." Each piece is accompanied by a contextual headnote. Block's kind remembrance of Westlake in the foreword offers a glimpse into their lifelong professional and personal relationship.