John Archibald Dortmunder is a fictitious character who is a career criminal, created by Donald E. Westlake. I was first introduced to John when I read the book “Bank Shot” in 1972 and just loved it. But I had never read any of the other books that Mr. Westlake published until just a few months ago. It was then that I thought about “Bank Shot” again (did you know that a movie was made of that book starring George C. Scott?). So I did a little research and found that Mr. Westlake has written 14 novels and 11 short stories in the Dortmunder series. So I’ve started reading all of them, beginning with “The Hot Rock” and then re-reading “Bank Shot”. I enjoyed “Bank Shot” at least as much, if not more, than I did the first time around! These books are a kick! Every one of them is very funny!
Here is a list of the Dortmunder novels:
- The Hot Rock (1970)☆
- Bank Shot (1972)☆
- Jimmy the Kid (1974)
- Nobody’s Perfect (1977)☆
- Why Me? (1983)
- Good Behavior (1985)☆
- Drowned Hopes (1990)☆
- Don’t Ask (1993)☆
- What’s the Worst That Could Happen? (1996)☆
- Bad News (2001)☆
- The Road to Ruin (2004)☆
- Thieves’ Dozen – The Dortmunder Stories (2004)☆
- Watch Your Back! (2005)☆
- What’s So Funny? (2007)☆
- Get Real (2009)☆
HOWEVER, I need some help! I haven’t been able to find copies of the following titles and am hoping that someone has a copy that they would let me borrow to read:
- Jimmy the Kid (1974)
- Why Me? (1983)
In addition to the Dortmunder series of books, Mr. Westlake has also published the following comic crime novels:
- The Fugitive Pigeon (1965)
- The Busy Body (1966)
- The Spy in the Ointment (1966)
- God Save the Mark (1967)
- Who Stole Sassi Manoon? (1968)
- Somebody Owes Me Money (1969)
- Cops and Robbers (1972)
- Help I Am Being Held Prisoner (1974)
- Two Much (1975)
- Dancing Aztecs (1976)
- Enough (1977)
- Castle In The Air (1980)
- High Adventure (1985)
- Trust Me On This (1988)
- Baby, Would I lie? (1994)
- Smoke (1995)
I haven’t read any of these, yet. But you can be sure I will!