by vjbooks | May 10, 2009 | We're Talking Books!
A reality-show company aptly titled Get Real recruits the delightfully understated John Dortmunder and his merry men for a heist in this clever Dortmunder novel (after What’s So Funny?), a worthy final word from Westlake (1933–2008). The producer of the...
by vjbooks | Feb 20, 2009 | Collecting, We're Talking Books!
Dear Friends, Booksellers often boast of the authors they can call “friends,” and I must confess that even VJ Books is presumptive enough to refer to a writer or two with that familiarity. Rare is the bookseller though who turns the world upside down and...
by vjbooks | Feb 4, 2009 | We're Talking Books!
(The Weekly Standard, William Kristol, Jan. 19) The great Donald Westlake died of a heart attack on New Year’s Eve. When I heard the news, I did what I thought he’d want me to do: I reread a couple of his comic crime novels, dissolving several times into...
by vjbooks | Jan 2, 2009 | We're Talking Books!
(The New York Times, Jan. 1, Jennifer Lee) Donald E. Westlake, a prolific, award-winning mystery novelist who pounded out more than 100 books and 5 screenplays on manual typewriters during a career of nearly 50 years, died on Wednesday night. He was 75. Mr. Westlake...
by vjbooks | Dec 1, 2008 | Children and YA, Collecting, We're Talking Books!
(marketwatch.com, Nov 20) Mystery Writers of America (MWA) has announced that the organization will name James Lee Burke and Sue Grafton its 2009 Grand Masters in honor of the Bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth next year. Not since 1978 has the organization...
