Mysterious (first), 1996
Discovered in the act of burgling a house that was supposed to be empty, John Dortmunder is robbed of his lucky ring by the superstitious business mogul who caught him. The normally deliberate Dortmunder’s outrage slowly boils over into a series of schemes designed to get the ring back, and incidentally to offer a profit incentive to the many colleagues who offer their assistance. Westlake tellingly juxtaposes the mogul’s amoral, rapacious behavior with the professionalism and bonhomie of Dortmunder and his criminal friends. Westlake hasn’t lost his ability to write humor: a breathtakingly clueless dialog about bar codes in chapter 38 is one of the funniest things I’ve read this year. And Dortmunder is possibly the only crook in America who could plan a burglarly of the Watergate without getting the joke. (Beth Thoenen)
Originally published in Issue # 145 – September/December 1996
| Find in a library | Buy a copy |
 |  |
