10 of the Best Books by Mystery Grand Master Donald E. Westlake 

This Edgar Award finalist introduces Westlake’s best-known leading man: John Dortmunder, a career criminal who never turns down a heist and whose hijinks always lead to hilarity. 

After a year-long stint in jail, Dortmunder gets picked up in a stolen car by his friend Kelp. Kelp immediately greets Dortmunder with the opportunity for a new heist.

Two newly formed nations are fighting over a 500-thousand-dollar emerald, and a UN official is offering a hefty prize if the men can steal it.

It won’t be easy, but Dortmunder is in, of course.

Wearing a ring he’s been told will bring good luck, Dortmunder sets out to burglarize the Long Island home of Max Fairbanks, a billionaire. Instead of luck, Dortmunder finds Fairbanks himself waiting at the home with a gun.

When the police arrive, Fairbanks also claims that Dortmunder’s special ring belongs to him. After escaping the police and assembling a ragtag team of accomplices, Dortmunder goes back after the mogul with a vengeance. 

This book inspired the 2001 film of the same name starring Martin Lawrence and Danny DeVito!

Dortmunder once again finds himself roped into a crime. This time, he doesn’t want to get involved, but some clever blackmail by ex-cop Eppick drags Dortmunder into the game.

The task? To hunt down a long-lost gold and jewel-studded chess set that had long ago been intended as a birthday gift for the last Romanov czar.

From the first move, Dortmunder is entangled in a web of trouble based on the set’s history. 

Dortmunder’s friend Kelp has another plan. Uh oh. He swears that it's foolproof because he got the scheme straight out of a book where it was successful. 

The book laid out instructions for a kidnapping so perfect that there’s no way it could go wrong, so Dortmunder reluctantly agrees to get involved.

But when the pair kidnaps a kid who’s way smarter than the two of them combined, the plan starts to go South. The book never said what to do if the kidnapping starts to get complicated. 

You might remember Jimmy the Kid as the 1982 movie starring Gary Coleman and Paul Le Mat!

John Dortmunder sees the perfect opportunity for a heist. Main Street Bank has temporarily relocated into a mobile home, filling the vehicle with loads of money.

It’s a crime that provides a getaway car. All Dortmunder and his crew have to do is get past the seven guards and drive away in the bank-on-wheels. If only Dortmunder’s plans ever went that smoothly. 

Originally published under the pen name Tucker Coe, this is the first book in a series starring hardened ex-cop Mitchell Tobin. 

Six months earlier, one mistake cost Tobin his job on the force and his identity, which he had built around being a cop. Now, as his family and savings are hanging on by a thread, Tobin is desperate for work.

So, when crime boss Ernie Rembeck offers him a job identifying the murderer of his mistress within the organization, Tobin agrees, on the condition that he won’t be asked to do anything illegal.

But, as Tobin soon discovers, the line between right and wrong is blurred in the mob, and he must tread lightly to maintain his safety. 

The 1967 Edgar Award winner for Best Novel! 

Innocent, gullible Fred Fitch is always getting caught up in a scam. When old Uncle Matt, whom Fred has never heard of before, dies, he wills Fred 317 thousand dollars.

But, along with the money comes a whole host of problems. Enter Uncle Matt’s old friend Gertie Divine and a variety of other characters who are all ready to befriend Fred and get their hands on the money.

Soon enough, Fred finds not just his money, but his life, in danger. 

After years of dedicated work, Burke Devore was laid off from his job as a manager at a paper company. Now, 18 months later, Burke is still unemployed and desperate. 

In order to get a job and provide for his family again, Burke devises a new job searching plan. It’s hard to get a job with so much qualified competition.

 So, Burke sets out to kill the competitors vying for the same roles as him, turning from a mild-mannered middle-aged dad to an assassin. 

A top man in the mob, Nick Rovito decides to give an unusually grand funeral to just another dead low-level drug courier. All is merry until Rovito learns that the corpse is being buried in the blue suit.

The blue suit, which has 250 thousand dollars worth of uncut heroin, that had been smuggled on the day the courier died, in its lining. Rovito calls on his right-hand man Engel to dig up the body and retrieve the goods.

When Engel reaches the coffin, he finds something even more terrifying than a corpse: the box is empty.

Now, Engel must find the body and the drugs in order to stay on the boss and the organization’s, good side. 

Trend magazine reporter Sara Joslyn has been sent to Branson, Missouri to cover a huge celebrity trial. Country Music star Ray Jones is standing trial for a horrific kidnapping and murder.

Sara finds herself enamored by the town and the musician, but burdened by her bothersome old coworkers from the Weekly Galaxy. When Jones is suspected of committing another murder, Sara believes something is amiss.

Now, she must use her own sleuthing skills to get to the bottom of the heartland killings.