When… (fifty years of Parker)

1963 copyright

Why is the cover of that bit of bureaucracy posted above?

Because that’s the bit of bureaucracy that contains this:

The hunter, by Richard Stark, pseud.
New York, Pocket Books,   155 p.
(Permabook edition, M 4272)
© Richard Stark; 15Dec62; A607387

Fifty years ago today, a fresh-faced guy in a Chevy offered a lift to a man walking across the George Washington Bridge. He was told to go to hell. And for fifty years, folks have been going to hell with Parker.

Since The Hunter likely didn’t hit bookstores until early 1963, we’re going to use 2013 as the year of Parker’s fiftieth anniversary.

Traditionally, that anniversary is celebrated with gold.

If the folks guarding that gold are sloppy, it won’t be there for long.