Showing results by author "Donald E. Westlake" in All Categories

The Byzantine Fire is much more than a flawless ninety-carat ruby. As a stone it's worth over a million dollars, a value vastly increased by its pure gold band - but its history is what makes it priceless. A ring that has been fought for with sword and pen and passed from nation to nation by all manner of theft and trickery, has finally made its way to the United States. The US agrees to return it to Turkey, but it's about to be stolen twice more.

Bible kanadských žertíků, které hrdina jménem Künde nepřestane dělat ani ve vězení, kam se kvůli nim ostatně dostal. Humoristický román s detektivní zápletkou je u nás Westlakeovým nejznámějším a nejslavnějším dílem. Harold Albert Chester Künde, hlavní postava románu, je dvaatřicetiletý svobodný muž, který v osmi letech dospěl k závěru, že jeho příjmení je kanadský žertík, a tak od té doby sám kanadské žertíky provádí. Jeden z nich ho bohužel přivede až do vězení. Jeho předsevzetí skončit se svým koníčkem mu ovšem nevyjde.

From the February 1960 issue of Manhunt Magazine, Mike Vendetti has taken four short stories that appeared in that issue and turned them into an audiobook. An Empty Threat by Donald E Westlake, No Place to run by Carroll Mayers, the Worm Turns by R. D'Ascoli, and The Idiot's Tale.

It's the score of a lifetime: easy access to a lavish New York City apartment, hordes of valuables, and an absentee owner avoiding the lawyers of his unhappy ex-wives. But before they pull the job, Dortmunder's crew is startled to find their beloved gin joint, the OJ, in the clutches of the Mafia--who consider it perfect for a little fraud, courtesy of a nice big fire. For tactical and highly superstitious reasons, the fate of the OJ is even more important to the crew than the enormous score.

Specialist in the scam, the con, and the rip-off, Jerry Manelli is running around New York hot on the trail of a priest: a thousand-year-old, two-foot-tall, ugly, misshapen, dancing Aztec priest made of solid gold, with eyes of pure emeralds, worth a million dollars. Somebody stole it from its museum home in South America and smuggled it through U.S. Customs in a shipment of plastic imitations. But the wrong one got delivered, and the million dollar statue, mixed with the fifteen copies, is somewhere in New York.

När taxiföraren Chet Conway får ett speltips av en kund kan han inte låta bli att satsa pengarna han fick för taxiresan. Tipset höll, men när Chet ska hämta ut vinsten hittar han bookmakern död. Chet blir misstänkt för mordet och hamnar mitt bland två rivaliserande gäng. Dessutom är bookmakerns syster villig att göra vad som helst för att hämnas broderns död. Chets enda chans att överleva är att själv hitta mördaren, ett uppdrag som visar sig vara betydligt svårare än han först trott.

Al Engel had worked his way up to being Nick Rovito’s right-hand man, near the top of the syndicate. And this was a delicate job that Rovito had given him: retrieving a very important jacket, loaded with heroin, from the fresh grave of the drug mule who was accidentally buried wearing it. There was just one problem (at least - just one to begin with): It turned out the grave was empty. Suddenly Engel was the one finding himself “in deep”.

Hospitalized after a liaison with another man's wife ends in violence, Paul Cole has just one goal: to rebuild his shattered life. But with his memory damaged, the police hounding him, and no way to even get home, Paul's facing steep odds - and a bleak fate if he fails. This final, never-before-published novel by three-time Edgar Award winner Donald E. Westlake is a noir masterpiece, a dark and painful portrait of a man's struggle against merciless forces that threaten to strip him of his very identity.

What would it take to lure a serious young newswoman from a respectable New England paper to the most notorious supermarket tabloid in America? The call of journalistic adventure? How about a promise of a salary that's triple what she's making? En route to her new job at the Weekly Galaxy, Sara Joslyn stumbles across a bloody corpse in a Buick Riviera. A big story? Not at this paper. The problem is compounded when the dead man vanishes, Buick and all.

Arriving home at dawn after another failed burglary, John Dortmunder—the anti-hero of Donald Westlake's popular comic crime series—is shocked to find his apartment occupied by a notorious cellmate everyone had supposed (and hoped) had been jailed for life.

It was supposed to be a simple caviar heist. Dortmunder is almost in the building when the alarm sounds, forcing him up the fire escape and onto the roof. He leaps onto the next building, smashing his ankle and landing in the den of the worst kind of creature he can imagine: nuns.

Fred Fitch är en dröm för alla bondfångare. Han är oerhört lättlurad och plockas på den ena dollarn efter den andra av falska poliser, präster och försäljare. En dag ärver han plötsligt 300 000 dollar från en gammal ohederlig morbror och då blir det fart på bondfångarna. Men Fred har annat att oroa sig för. Det verkar inte som att morbrodern dog en naturlig död och snart känner sig Fred förföljd och vågar inte lita på någon. Kanske bäst att göra sig av med pengarna? Men vågar han lita på sin gamle vän Jack på polisens bedrägerirotel?

En række forbrydere fra forskellige europæiske lande slår sig sammen om at stjæle en formue, der er skjult bag stenene på et slot, som tilhører en afsat sydamerikansk diktator. Men nogle taler engelsk, nogle taler tysk, nogle spansk, og andre igen fransk og italiensk, og kun få kan tale et sprog udover deres modersmål. Sprogvanskelighederne og de mange nationale fordomme truer med at ødelægge det store kup ... Den amerikanske forfatter Donald E.

Ugebladet ’Galaxy’ ejes af en tidligere mafiaboss, og den redaktionelle stab er gennemkorrupt og skyer ingen midler for at finde de mest opsigtsvækkende historier og hårrejsende billeder til bladets fem millioner læsere. Fristet af en høj løn ankommer den unge journalist Sara Joslyn til ’Galaxy’. I begyndelsen er hun uspoleret og naiv, men snart deltager hun i kapløbet med kollegerne om at opsnuse sensationer og skandaler i hobetal.

El robo elevado a la categoría de arte envenenado. A pesar de tener un don para organizar grandes golpes, John Dortmunder se dedica desde hace una buena temporada a las estafas de poca monta. Es más seguro... y más aburrido. Por eso, cuando su amigo Kelp le propone un audaz e inverosímil atraco a un banco, Dortmunder no puede resistirse. En poco tiempo urden un plan minucioso y forman un equipo de cinco hombres y dos mujeres para quienes el robo es algo más que un modo de vida. Para ellos, estos son los riesgos que vale la pena correr.