Parker Novels - Mystery and Thrillers in one

The Hunter has Parker chasing his ex-partners and his ex-wife who have betrayed him in a heist and left him for dead. He methodically finds them and disposes of them. One, is protected by the Mob, so Parker takes on the Mob too.

This book was made into a movie twice. First in 1967 with the film title being Point Blank. The movie starred Lee Marvin as Parker.

In 1999 another movie was made from the book with the film title being Payback. Mel Gibson starred as Parker in this film.

The Paper Trail offers a copy of this book published by Warner Books in 1999.

First published in 1963 the second book in the series where Parker is still not a well liked man. There is a contract on his head in New York and in Nebraska there is a plastic surgeon being guarded by a fighter. In New Jersey there is a red armored truck filled with money and Parker and some interesting characters plan a heist for that money.

The cover shot at the right is from the 1998 Time Warner publication in hardcover available at The Paper Trail.

The king is in his castle in Buffalo and armed with a new face and an iron will Parker is out to get the king and the Outfit who has put a contract out on his life. His associates pull off 12 capers in 5 days.

The Outfit was also made into a movie also called The Outfit in 1973 starring Robert Duvall as the criminal everyone loves to hate.

The cover shown here is from the 1998 Time Warner publication of the book. It can be found at The Paper Trail

It takes a thief to catch a thief and Parker is one of the best. Parker is blackmailed by an ex-girlfriend to steal a priceless statue from a Russian diplomat, but he's not the only one after the statue.

First published in 1963 in paperback. Allison and Busby (cover shown here) published the first hardcover British edition in 1987.

A copy of the 1987 Allison and Busby publication can be found at The Paper Trail.

Twelve racketeers are going to take over an entire town. Introduction of Alan Grofield, who eventually gets his own series.

This story was also published under the name of Killtown and was made into a French movie Mise A Sac.

First published in paperback in 1964. Allison and Busby published the first hardcover British edition in 1985 with the cover shown here.

A copy of the 1985 edition can be found at The Paper Trail.

Parker travels to Nebraska when an old friend asks for help. Kind of out of character for our thief except that he needs to make sure this guy isn't going to blow his cover.

First published in 1965 in paperback. Cover shown here is from the 1986 Allison & Busby publication in hardcover.

A movie Made in U.S.A was made from this book in 1967 with Richard Widmark.

A copy of the Allison & Busby 1986 edition can be found at The Paper Trail.

"The robbery was a piece of cake. The getaway was clean. And seven men were safely holed up in different places while Parker held all the cash - until the heat was off and each could collect his seventh to spend on booze or broads or dreams. Except this sweet heist turned sour. Somebody stole Parker's stash. Killed Parker's girl. And made Parker murderously mad. Now Parker's looking for the lowlife who did him dirty. The cops are looking for seven clever thieves. The killer is looking for a way to shoot Parker. And when hunters and hunted meet - some win, some lose, and some die." - excerpt from the book.

Originally published in 1966 as The Seventh the book was re-titled as The Split. Made into a movie in 1968, called The Split and starred Jim Brown as the Parker character, although the movie called him McClain.

Parker is contacted by Karns to "knock off" an island casino that is creating too much competition for his organization. In this book, Parker works with Alan Grofield again for the second time. (Grofield becomes the main character in a series of his own after The Handle.)

Because it is a Parker novel and the character is just so much fun to read this is a pretty good book. I'd have to say that it isn't one of the better ones in the series as there are more instances of characters surviving injuries than really seems likely in stories like these. Stark (Westlake) keeps the plot moving nicely with a lot of action through out.

This book is currently available at my website The Paper Trail.

From the title you can count on this Parker novel being about the theft of rare coins but if you are a fan of Parker you can also guess it won't be about some run of the mill coin heist. Nope, this one deals with the heist of an entire Coin Collectors Convention!

Many feel that this Parker Novel is a real star in the series, as Richard Stark begins to make Parker more human to the readers. The character begins a love interest in this book with Claire and we readers are given some insight on his past.

I'm actually surprised this book wasn't made into a movie...it would have been a good one.

Dirty Money was the last book in the Parker series by Richard Stark aka Donald E. Westlake and was published in 2008.

Donald Westlake July 12 1933 - December 31, 2008. The fiction world mourns his loss.

Copyright: October 14, 2008 by BevsPaper (Beverly Owens)