(Note: The “OJ” is a bar where John Dortmunder and his gang meet. The bartender knows them not by their names but by their drinks, which really makes sense, if you think about it.)

Scott: Which of your books is your favorite?

Donald: At different times I have different favorites, but eventually I go back to, Kahawa , a book I felt was the only time that all my personae got together to collaborate on a story.

Scott: Why did you pick such an irredeemable character, Parker, for your alter ego novels, written under the name Richard Stark?

Donald: I like people who simply get on with the job and don't showboat. I like them in life and I like them in fiction. And as for why I choose criminals, it's because there the triumphs are rarer and sweeter. The last line of my first produced screenplay, Cops and Robbers is, "We got away with it!" Is there a more joyous concept?

Scott: Why did you develop your various pseudonyms (Curt Clark, J. Morgan Cunningham, Samuel Holt, and the better known Richard Stark)?

Donald: I've used pseudonyms for various reasons. In my earliest days I was writing too much, and needed to shift some of the product over to other front men. I've also done it to establish the different tones of the different writings: Stark doesn't write very much like Westlake at all.

Once or twice I've done it to hide behind, more or less successfully. I haven't added a new guy to the crew since over 20 years ago, with Samuel Holt. Fortunately, I don't have to supply these people with health insurance.

Thanks again to Mr. Westlake for a fun interview and for so many hours of pleasure reading his books, regardless of what name he writes under.