General & Miscellaneous Humor, Crimes - Fiction, Other Mystery Categories

What's So Funny? (John Dortmunder Series #13)

Name: What's So Funny? (John Dortmunder Series #13)
Author: Donald E. Westlake
ISBN: 9780446401159

by Donald E. Westlake

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Overview

In his classic caper novels, Donald E. Westlake turns the world of crime and criminals upside down. The bad get better, the good slide a bit, and Lord help anyone caught between a thief named John Dortmunder and the current object of his intentions. Now Westlake's seasoned but often scoreless crook must take on an impossible crime, one he doesn't want and doesn't believe in. But a little blackmail goes a long way in... WHAT'S SO FUNNY?

All it takes is a few underhanded moves by a tough ex-cop named Eppick to pull Dortmunder into a game he never wanted to play. With no choice, he musters his always-game gang and they set out on a perilous treasure hunt for a long-lost gold and jewel-studded chess set once intended as a birthday gift for the last Romanov czar, which unfortunately reached Russia after that party was over.

From the moment Dortmunder reaches for his first pawn, he faces insurmountable odds. The purloined past of this precious set is destined to confound any strategy he finds on the board. Success is not inevitable with John Dortmunder leading the attack, but he's nothing if not persistent, and some gambit or other might just stumble into a winning move.

Synopsis

In his classic caper novels, Donald E. Westlake turns the world of crime and criminals upside down. The bad get better, the good slide a bit, and Lord help anyone caught between a thief named John Dortmunder and the current object of his intentions. Now Westlake's seasoned but often scoreless crook must take on an impossible crime, one he doesn't want and doesn't believe in. But a little blackmail goes a long way in... WHAT'S SO FUNNY?
All it takes is a few underhanded moves by a tough ex-cop named Eppick to pull Dortmunder into a game he never wanted to play. With no choice, he musters his always-game gang and they set out on a perilous treasure hunt for a long-lost gold and jewel-studded chess set once intended as a birthday gift for the last Romanov czar, which unfortunately reached Russia after that party was over.
From the moment Dortmunder reaches for his first pawn, he faces insurmountable odds. The purloined past of this precious set is destined to confound any strategy he finds on the board. Success is not inevitable with John Dortmunder leading the attack, but he's nothing if not persistent, and some gambit or other might just stumble into a winning move.

The New York Times - Marilyn Stasio

Donald E. Westlake gets the last laugh in his comic mystery What's So Funny?, with an ending so laden with irony it almost has you thinking that crime doesn't pay. But of course it does pay, in those laughs that land on every page, when the criminals involved are Westlake's congenitally depressed master thief, John Dortmunder, and his merry band of colorful crooks.

About the Author, Donald E. Westlake

DONALD E. WESTLAKE has written numerous novels over the past thirty-five years under his own name and pseudonyms, including Richard Stark. Many of his books have been made into movies, including THE HUNTER, which became the brilliant film noir POINT BLANK, and the 1999 smash hit PAYBACK. He penned the Hollywood scripts for THE STEPFATHER and THE GRIFTERS, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. The winner of three Edgar awards and a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, Donald E. Westlake was presented with The Eye, the Private Eye Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award, at the Shamus Awards. He lives with his wife, Abby Adams, in rural New York State.

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Editorials

Marilyn Stasio

Publishers Weekly

In Westlake's diverting 13th John Dortmunder novel (after 2004's Watch Your Back!), the hapless crook gets blackmailed into trying to pull off an impossible heist-stealing a gold chess set originally intended as a gift for the last czar of Russia, but picked up by some U.S. soldiers who were part of an anti-Soviet expeditionary force in 1919-1920 and now kept secure in a midtown Manhattan basement vault while various parties dispute its ownership. Dortmunder makes little progress in the book's first half, until he figures out a way to prompt an inquiry that leads to the chess set's being transported downtown-to a location that proves far from secure. As usual, Westlake provides amusing, at times dim-witted dialogue, particularly among the regulars at O.J.'s Bar & Grill on Amsterdam Avenue, and a cast of appealing if often inept cops and robbers. Not every loose end may be tied up, but the ironic resolution will leave both series fans and newcomers satisfied. (Apr.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

John Dormunder rounds up his band of crooks for a hapless and hilarious treasure hunt for a valuable chess set in his next adventure. Westlake lives in upstate New York.-Ann Kim Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The 13th workout for the funny bone featuring John Dortmunder, his inept crew and a massively over-attended burglary. The problem with being a career criminal is that sooner or later someone will catch you and blackmail you into committing a caper that has disaster written all over it. Johnny Eppick, a cop turned p.i. who has the goods on Dortmunder, coerces him into stealing a chess set for a client who thinks it ought to belong to him rather than a dead Czar. The set reposes in a subterranean vault under a bank under floors of lawyers' offices, where the Northwood descendants of the original looter are squabbling over custody of it, unaware that the original Northwood's co-conspirator's descendant, wheelchair-bound Hemlow, wants the share he was cheated out of. The problem of how to get the jewel-encrusted chess set out of that vault is compounded by Hemlow's granddaughter Fiona, a lawyer who'll allow only so many illegalities; her cartoonist boyfriend Brian; a pair of freeloaders nestled in Hemlow's Massachusetts rural estate; and enough security forces to safeguard a small country, though not enough to keep to a timetable. Dortmunder and his band manage to lift the chess set, but not for long. More characters than at Agincourt, each with a wicked way with a punch line, and a plot twist that lands this firmly in Westlake's own screwball territory (Watch Your Back, 2005, etc.).