About the Author
Donald E.Westlake was born in upstate New York, dropped out of the State University after his sophomore year, spent two years in the Air Force ("we parted by mutual agreement") and came to New York where he worked for the Scott Meredith Literary Agency in the late l950's and began to publish short stories in Alfred Hitchcock, Ellery Queen and other mystery magazines. His first novel, THE MERCENARIES, was published by Random House in l960 and was a finalist for the Edgar; his short story, TOO MANY CROOKS, won the Edgar in l992 and he received the MWA Grandmaster Award in l997. He has done significant work for television and film, receiving an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for THE GRIFTERS in l992 and many of his novels have been the basis of films, among them THE HOT ROCK, THE BANK SHOT, COPS AND ROBBERS, WHY ME?, THE BUSY BODY and POINT BLANK. POINT BLANK, based upon the novel THE OUTFIT which was one of a series of hardboiled suspense novels written as "Richard Stark" was remade as PAYBACK with Mel Gibson in l998. Westlake divides his time amongst Hollywood, New York City and upstate New York.