Appears under the title The Exploiters.

Cover tagline: "A non-stop sin spree from the penthouse bedrooms of Las Vegas to the 'tunnels' of New York."

Appears under its original title.

Cover tagline: none.

Appears under the title The Blonde on Manhunt Street.

Cover tagline: none.

Appears under the title Death Comes in Shes in both publications.

Cover tagline: "Parker would take the town - then her!"

Appears under the title The Chicken and the Yegg in Man's Magazine.

Cover tagline: "A Parker Mystery by Richard Stark".

Appears under the title The Depraved Ones in For Men Only.

Cover tagline: "A rogue cop, a hot-blooded blonde, and a twisted killer chase $250,000 in dead man's loot..."

Appears under the title The Deadly Seven.

Cover tagline: "Gangs, guns and a greedy girl tell a blazing story of lust, larceny and $122,000 - winner takes all."

Appears under the title Table-Stakes Redhead.

Cover tagline: "Sizzling action... torrid... about as far as you can go!"

Appears under the title The Naked Plunderers.

Cover tagline: "Rock-hard gunmen and a soft-fleshed blonde play a deadly game."

Appears under the title A Nymph for the Mafia.

Cover tagline: "A jolter... loaded with explosive action and sizzling sex..."

Appears under the title The Young Bedroom Raiders.

Cover tagline: "The hero of 'Point Blank' is back, tougher than ever..."

Appears under the title The Women Sharers.

Cover tagline: "The man from 'Point Blank' is back again - out to score in girls and gold."

Appears under the title The Blood-Money Heist.

Cover tagline: "Five savage murders marked the trail... a lust for revenge... slam-bang finale."

Appears under the title The Man Who Fought Las Vegas’ Mad-Dog Heisters.

Cover tagline: "His wife raped... loot stolen... buddy murdered. Now he was ready to even the score."

"That brings us to The Sour Lemon Score, often controversial in its sharp, layered, three-dimensional portrait of internalized homophobia. If Stark’s portrayal is visceral, it is never cruel. His characters are capable of horrific acts, but you understand the humanity behind them: denial, fear of being seen as ‘other’, a cutting commentary on the trappings of masculinity, etc. These are conversations the novel engages in because they matter to its author. On the other hand, the Italian translation uses language that not only was already outdated by the dawn of the 1970s but language that seeks to hurt, to disapprove, to paint as ‘wrong’."

A deep dive into the Italian translation of The Sour Lemon Score and how it censored one of the most significant gay storylines in crime fiction. Continue reading at the link above!

"Parker (no first name) is certainly more famous than his author (Richard Stark, pseudonym of Donald Westlake). People remember him immediately, without hesitation. Parker? Yes, of course, the tough one, the "noir". The same phenomenon as Fantômas, Arsène Lupin, Sherlock Holmes. When people remembering him, say "noir", they're not only referring to the fact that in Italy an imprint was created especially for him, called Neri Mondadori, because he, Parker, was too unorthodox, too violent, too "out of line" to appear in the more classic series of crime novels without disorienting readers. They're also referring to the concept of French Noir, the concept of "maudit", which was valid for Jim Thomson [sic], James Hadley Chase, Cornell Woolrich and a few others."

An English translation of Laura Grimaldi's foreword for the Da Parker Con Furore Italian omnibus. Continue reading at the link above!

An English translation of Valerio Evangelisti's afterword for the Italian edition of Backflash. Continue reading at the link above!

The September 1979 issue of the monthly French comic book magazine Charlie Mensuel #128 featured a fascinating piece on Donald Westlake by renowned crime novelist Jean-Patrick Manchette. We've got the honor of presenting the excerpts pertaining to Richard Stark and the Parker series, translated by Doug Headline. Continue reading at the link above!

The January 1982 issue of French crime fiction magazine Polar #22 featured an analysis of Donald Westlake's various pseudonyms by renowned novelist Jean-Patrick Manchette. We've got the honor of presenting the piece in full, translated by Doug Headline. Continue reading at the link above!

"[...] LGBT themes weren't uncommon in Westlake's work; he'd had his debut during the 'sleaze' novels craze of the 1950s, writing lesbian pulp fiction along would-be big names like Patricia Highsmith and Marijane Meaker. Still, Jade is often thought of as something of an outlier; being as it is a deep dive into the gay culture of the era with a sympathetic and layered portrayal of gay characters that's practically unheard of in the annals of mainstream crime fiction.

Donald Westlake was, of course, no stranger to crime fiction. At that very same time, he was still operating under the pen name of Richard Stark and writing the books he would be best remembered for: the Parker series. That was the true outlier in a career singularly concerned with LGBT themes – a gaycoded protagonist."

An exploration of the gay subtext inherent to the Parker novels, building off a 1984 essay by Westlake himself. Continue reading at the link above!

"One of the single most fascinating aspects in Donald Westlake's LGBT-oriented work is his use of and emphasis on space. Homes, offices, general living spaces of gay men are described in minute detail and are very often contrasted against the heterosexual domestic sphere."

A look at Paul Brock's apartment and real-life gay homes of the 1960s. Continue reading at the link above!

"However, regardless of one’s subjective enjoyment of the whimsically charming political thriller, the real fact of the matter is that Made in U.S.A excels where many other Parker films have failed. For one thing, entire passages are lifted directly from the novel – the much-adored Point Blank (1967) doesn’t use a single line of Mr. Stark’s dialogue; major plot points remain as written, Anna Karina’s Parker is blunt and determined and steadfast in her quest for justice."

How Godard's offbeat political thriller makes for one of the most accurate Parker adaptations to date, despite popular misconceptions. Continue reading at the link above!

"But if Parker's arc is played in subtext, if this is the "smothered, unacknowledged homosexuality" Westlake had spoken about in the aforementioned essay, then it is Grofield who's got all his cards on the table. Grofield's sexuality is so blatant that it seems to have circled back around to being subtextual, if a complete lack of acknowledgement from the average reader is anything to go by.

Secondary protagonist to the series, actor, purist, part-time thief by necessity, Alan Grofield is one of Stark's most fascinating – and complex – creations. From his first appearance in The Score (1964), it’s immediately obvious what kind of man Grofield is."

A continued exploration of the gay subtext in Richard Stark's Parker series; this time focusing on flamboyant actor, sometimes-thief Grofield. Continue reading at the link above!

"When it comes to crime fiction, it's not exactly unlikely to encounter instances of real life writing the plot. It's a genre that deals in harsh realities and half-truths, and Richard Stark himself must have considered the real logistics of Parker's plans every now and again. However, an especially notable -- and in true Westlake fashion, undeniably funny -- instance comes from The Mourner (1963).

In the fourth chapter of the first part, we're introduced both to the titular statue and Ralph Harrow, collector in need. What sets the plot in motion is his daughter's attempt to blackmail Parker, and Harrow himself is only peripheral to that significantly more urgent issue as far as Parker's goals are concerned. All the same, Harrow walks in carrying a remarkably real magazine."

A look at the real-life magazine appearing in The Mourner. Continue reading at the link above!

Parker is the subject of a myriad of memorable descriptions throughout every other novel. Here is a collection of these portraits. Continue reading at the link above!

"What we really wanted to convey in this project was the emotional core of Mr. Stark's novels and his work put into developing Parker and Grofield as characters. Exploring their relationship with each other was something we found just as compelling, both in canon and beyond it."

A collection of short comics (& one essay) brought to you by the team behind this very website - continue reading at the link above!