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Ralph Harrow and the Mourners of Dijon

"Bett came in first, and her father followed, clutching the book protectively to his chest. It was a large, slender book with a red binding and a picture on the cover of some people in a balloon."
- Richard Stark, The Mourner

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. Past his introduction, the following descriptions appear:

Not only is Stark giving us the name and date of the first issue of Horizon: A Magazine of the Arts, a bi-monthly hardcover literary journal, but even the page number is correct:

Despite Parker's refusal to read the article in question, Bett is also not wrong in her reassurance that it's a short piece. At just two pages, The Missing Mourners of Dijon by Fernand Auberjonois gives us just about the same information Ralph Harrow summarizes for Parker:

A few readers may be surprised to learn that the Mourners are real in the first place but the accuracy of Horizon's portrayal is certainly one of the more unexpected subtleties of the Parker novels, and certainly a great indication of the research that'd gone into each and every book.

Full text of the Horizon article below: