Not Quite Parker – Print

Not Quite Parker

(but close enough)

Print

Pastiches, homages, references, and ripoffs

Dead Skip, by Joe Gores (1972)

“I’ve never met a real detective before,” she said, “but I love Agatha Christie…”

Ballard, who only read Richard Stark, said he was looking for a Mr. Charles M. Griffin.

Dead Skip shares a scene with Plunder Squad.

The Dark Half, by Stephen King (1991)

“Anyway, for reasons you’d have to ask Westlake about, he eventually stopped writing novels about Parker, but I never forgot something Westlake said after the pen name was blown. He said he wrote books on sunny days and Stark took over on the rainy ones…”

–Thad Beaumont

The Nolan series, by Max Allan Collins

“One Parker pastiche was an homage; a series really did seem a rip-off…”

–Max Allan Collins

Son of Parker? The Joe Kurtz series, by Dan Simmons

“My mother was a whore. I didn’t see much of her even before the orphanage. Once when she was drunk, she told me that she thought my old man was a thief, some guy with just one name and that not even his own…”

–Joe Kurtz

The Wyatt series, by Garry Disher

I haven’t read any of these yet, but several readers have pointed me to this Australian series of Parker pastiches.

The Wheelman, by Duane Swierczynski

Link is to Amazon. I’d like to reread it before commenting further, but for now, I’ll just write that it is intended as a tribute to the Parker series and it’s a very good one.

Note: I have many suggestions for additions to this page. I think what I’m going to do is post them to blog as they come in, and then add them as I get a chance for further investigation. Recommendations are appreciated and will not be forgotten!