Donald E. Westlake

At a mental institution, Mitch Tobin searches for a patient with a violent sense of humor Mitch Tobin is about to be committed. Since his abrupt dismissal from the NYPD, Tobin's nerves have been frayed, and if it wasn't for his work as a private detective, he might well be in need of actual psychiatric care. But during his stay at the Midway, a halfway house for those recovering from mental illness, he'll only be impersonating a patient while trying...

An ailing ex-president attempts to return to the world stage Few retirements are tougher than that of a former president. For more than a decade, the once-powerful Bradford Lockridge, whose presidency was cut short after one term, has slipped further and further into obscurity. At his lowest point, he flies to California to attend the opening of a supermarket, just for a chance to get some sunshine. After the ceremony ends, Lockridge faints, waking...

In the comfort station at Bryant Park, worlds collide and lives are changed forever Look past the grandeur of the famous New York Public Library and you will see the true architectural marvel of Forty-Second Street: the comfort station. A small building, modest in its proportions but undeniable in its importance, its handful of stalls and urinals provide a haven for rich and poor alike. The restroom's keeper is Mo Mowgli, a meek man whose only trouble...

A disgraced ex-cop takes a job from a bereaved, gentlemanly mobster Six months ago, Mitchell Tobin lost his career-and with it, his identity. An honest cop drummed out of the force because of one terrible mistake, Tobin has spent six months watching his savings dwindle and his family fall apart. But no matter how badly he needs work, he doesn't want anything to do with Ernie Rembeck, a crime boss whose mistress has just turned up dead. The killer...

Great collection of action short stories by Donald E. Westlake from "The Golden Age of Science Fiction". Featured here: "The Spy in the Elevator", "The Risk Profession", "They also Serve", and "Call Him Nemesis".

Charlie Poole is a bum. His friends know it. His gangster uncle Al knows it. And Charlie himself knows it better than anyone. He's stuck with his meager lot, tending bar at his uncle's Brooklyn dive, picking up the occasional package . . . and being a bum. But when two mob hit men show up out of the blue and inform him that his breathing days are over, Charlie doesn't feel like a bum anymore. He feels like an extremely fast runner. Because not having...

For the sake of a distant cousin, Mitch Tobin takes on an impossible case On the outskirts of Greenwich Village, among a wasteland of warehouses and tenements, a group of young people are opening a coffee shop. They are idealistic, giddy, and beautiful-the picture of 1960s youth-but their optimism cannot last. When a corrupt detective comes around demanding regular bribes, one of the young hippies, Robin Kennely, asks for help from a distant relative,...

Darwyn Cooke is the Eisner Award-winning writer/artist of such classics as DC: The New Frontier, Selina's Big Score, and last year's smash-hit, The Hunter. Now, Cooke is back and following up the New York Times best-selling Hunter with a heart-pounding sequel: The Outfit. After evening the score with those who betrayed him, and recovering the money he was cheated out of from the syndicate, Parker is riding high, living in swank hotels and enjoying...

Cab driver Chet Conway was hoping for a good tip from his latest fare, the sort he could spend. But what he got was a tip on a horse race. Which might have turned out okay, except that when he went to collect his winnings, Chet found his bookie lying dead on the living room floor. Chet knows he had nothing to do with it-but just try explaining that to the cops, to the two rival criminal gangs who each think Chet's working for the other, and to the...

Some people will do anything for money.Mavis St. Paul had been a rich man's mistress. Now she was a corpse. And every cop in New York City was hunting for the two-bit punk accused of putting a knife in her. But the punk was innocent. He'd been set up to take the fall by some cutie who was too clever by half. My job? Find that cutie-before the cutie found me.