I have been reading his books for...well, for a long time, and I STILL don't know how Donald Westlake does it.

He is at an age where many individuals are happy just to wake up in the morning; he wakes up and writes...no, he doesn't write. He makes magic. He casts spells that run circles around the collective work of any five authors you could name off the top of your head. And he hasn't been doing it for years, he's been doing it for decades. Why his name is not a household word --- why his name is not instantly synonymous with literature, like Hemingway and Faulkner and Steinbeck --- I'll never know.

Well, I do know. He writes crime fiction, which is considered by the intelligentsia to be lowbrow, but if they ever get their collective heads out of their collective, uh, sand, maybe Westlake will get the recognition he deserves.

That recognition could be under his own name, or under the name Richard Stark, or under the name Tucker Coe, among others. Westlake's pseudonyms were not created to carry the burden of the leftovers; they were created to present his varied personas. His bibliographies under his own name and his pen name Richard Stark are prodigious enough to make Stephen King's literary output look as small as Harper Lee's. And it's all great. Every word of it.

And the man is not slowing down. Take a look at BAD NEWS, his latest novel. BAD NEWS is "A Dortmunder Novel" as in "John Dortmunder." Westlake will chill you to your socks when he wants to, but you won't find that type of writing in a Dortmunder novel. No; the writing in BAD NEWS is not chilling, it's hilarious. And brilliant.

Dortmunder is a crook. He's not successful at it, either. It's not because he's stupid --- far from it. The guy is a genius. He simply has horrible luck. Circumstances never break his way. He is smart enough to get himself out of the bad situations he finds himself in, which is why he is still alive. He just has a rough time making a dishonest dollar. And it is a demonstration of Westlake's genius that he is able to keep working variations of this theme and keep it much more than interesting.

BAD NEWS opens with Dortmunder unsuccessfully trying to burgle a discount store and attempting to escape, literally, out from under the noses of the local gendarme. He jumps right into the fire, however, when Andy Kelp, his erstwhile associate, comes to him with an opportunity to make a quick grand. The task is not to Dortmunder's liking --- it involves unearthing a grave and switching caskets --- but he reluctantly agrees. And is soon sorry. The task is part of an unlikely but brilliant ploy to acquire part ownership of an upstate New York casino. Dortmunder and Kelp find themselves to be uneasy and unlikely partners with Fitzroy Guilderpost, ex-teacher Irwin Gabel, and a Las Vegas showgirl named Little Feather Redcorn.

Redcorn is trying to establish that she is the last surviving member of the Pottaknobbee Indian tribe. If she is successful, she can acquire one-third interest in the Silver Chasm Casino. The fact that she is not what she claims to be is, of course, a minor detail, as far as she and her partners are concerned. Dortmunder's luck runs true to form and rubs off on all assembled. They accordingly have to be flexible with their plan, such as it is, and it looks, for just a moment, like something which Dortmunder is involved with might actually succeed. Longtime readers of Dortmunder, however, know better.

Westlake is at his best in BAD NEWS, but then, he's incapable of anything less. If you are unfamiliar with his books, BAD NEWS is as good a place as any to begin reading the work of the man who will become your new favorite author. Highest possible recommendation.