Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2015 March 11 • Wednesday

The Publisher's Weekly blurb is quite right. The Getaway Car is "a must-have for [Donald E.] Westlake fans".

This collection of non-fiction pieces included several I'd read before and it was a pleasure to see them again. Even more of a pleasure were those that were new to me, particularly Westlake's appreciation of Charles Willeford, his analysis of Peter Rabe's work and a talk on hardboiled detective fiction he gave at the Smithsonian Institution in 1982.

His introduction to the collection of Levine stories is reprinted here and includes Westlake's reminiscence of listening to an audio recording of an episode of The 87th Precinct that had been based on one of those stories. He had never been able to see the episode.

The editor of the book notes that in 2005 Westlake wrote to Evan Hunter and told him that a fan had given him a videotape of that episode and he had finally been able to watch it. Here's a little known fact: I was that fan. I didn't send it to him, as Levi Stahl assumes, but presented it to him in person at a book signing. In return Westlake inscribed my copy of The Ax, "God bless you for 87".

It saddens me to report that I no longer have that book with its unique inscription. If you see it, please let me know.