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Lemons Never Lie

An Alan Grofield Novel

 An action-packed crime novel starring Alan Grofield, the ladies' man associate of the legendary heister Parker

Donald E. Westlake is one of the greats of crime fiction. Under the pseudonym Richard Stark, he wrote twenty-four fast-paced, hardboiled novels featuring Parker, a shrewd career criminal with a talent for heists. Using the same nom de plume, Westlake also completed a separate series in the Parker universe, starring Alan Grofield, an occasional colleague of Parker. While he shares events and characters with several Parker novels, Grofield is less calculating and more hot-blooded than Parker; think fewer guns, more dames.
 
Not that there isn’t violence and adventure aplenty. Lemons Never Lie—a taut thriller that finds Grofield recruited by a man named Myers for a sketchy brewery heist. But when Grofield gets cold feet, he has to decide if it’s riskier to go through with the plot, or to say no to Myers.
 
With a new foreword by Sarah Weinman that situates the Grofield series within Westlake’s work as a whole, these novels are an exciting addition to any crime fiction fan’s library.

224 pages | 5 1/4 x 8 | © 1971

Fiction

Reviews

“Whatever Stark writes, I read. He’s a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude.”

Elmore Leonard

“Westlake knows precisely how to grab a reader, draw him or her into the story, and then slowly tighten his grip until escape is impossible.”

Washington Post

"Elmore Leonard wouldn't write what he does if Stark hadn't been there before. And Quentin Tarantino would write like he does without Leonard. . . . Old master that he is, Stark does all of them one better."

Los Angeles Times

"Westlake/Stark is the cleanest of all noir novelists, a styleless stylist who gets to the point with stupendous economy, hustling you down the path of plot so briskly that you have to read his books a second time to appreciate the elegance and sober wit with which they are written."
 

Terry Teachout | Commentary

“Fiercely distracting . . . . Westlake is an expert plotter; and while Parker is a blunt instrument of a human being depicted in rudimentary short grunts of sentences, his take on other characters reveals a writer of great humor and human understanding.”

John Hodgman | "Parade"

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