Nailing down the Westlake sleaze catalog, part III: The Monarch books

Unlike a chunk of the books in the previous posts in this series, the authorship of the books written by Donald Westlake and published by Monarch Books were never much in question. The “E” in Donald E. Westlake stands for “Edwin,” so it didn’t take a master sleuth to figure out Donald Edwin […]

2010: The year in Westlake

Note: New content will be light to non-existent for the next week or two, as I travel to celebrate a belated Christmas and an on-time New Year with my family back home.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this (very) hurriedly-written summary of 2010.

I hope that your holidays have been and will […]

Westlake sleaze reprint carnival!

Wonder Publishing Group has just released Donald Westlake’s 1961 sleaze novel, Campus Doll, as an eBook. It is available for Kindle from Amazon and some other formats from Barnes & Nobles’ Fictionwise. As a bonus, it’s cheap, listed at $5.99.

While it’s always great news when rare Westlake becomes available, I can’t help but be a little disappointed in the announcement. I wish there was a print-on-demand option for those of us not yet enamored with reading full-length novels on a computer screen or who can’t afford a Kindle or an iPad. But with something like Campus Doll, we’re lucky to have it at all and I feel a bit churlish for complaining.

For we who are behind the times, Subterranean Press has announced an October publication date for an omnibus of three early sleazy collaborations between Lawrence Block and Donald Westlake (writing as Sheldon Lord and Alan Marshall, respectively). Titled Hellcats and Honeygirls, it will contain A Girl Called Honey, So Willing, and Sin Hellcat (AKA A Piece of the Action) as well as a new introduction by Block. It retails for $30, and can be pre-ordered here.

I don’t believe cover art for Hellcats and Honeygirls is online yet, but it will be by Glen Orbik, who has done some memorable work for Hard Case Crime.

Vintage cover art below the fold.

Continue reading Westlake sleaze reprint carnival!