Mystery Writer Donald Westlake Dies (Photos)

Posted on January 2, 2009

Mystery writer Donald E Westlake has died of a suspected heart attack while on vacation in Mexico. Read more on Donald Westlake’s death below.

Donald Westlake’s wife, Abigail Westlake, told The New York Times he had suddenly collapsed while heading to a New Year’s Eve dinner.

Westlake, 75, wrote more than 100 books under a variety of pseudonyms. Some of Westlake’s books were turned into movies including Point Blank and Payback.

Westlake’s script for con artist movie The Grifters resulted in an Oscar nod for best adapted screenplay in 1991.

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Donald Westlake used various pen names because publishers didn’t like to flood the market with books from the same author.

“Publishers don’t like to publish more than one book a year by the same author, and I was writing faster than that,” he told The Times in 2007. Friends said Westlake could write up to four novels a year.

Pen names included Tucker Coe, Curt Clark, Samuel Holt and Edwin West. Donald’s most enduring pen name was Richard Stark.

The author continued to write until his death – always on one of his four or five manual typewriters. His latest novel, Get Real, is due for publication in April.

Donald Westlake is survived by his wife, four sons from his previous marriages to Nedra Henderson and Sandra Kalb, three stepchildren and four grandchildren.

Our condolences to Westlake’s family and friends.

Images: PR

source: news