A New York Dance

by Donald E. Westlake

Complete and unabridged.
Originally published by M. Evans & Co., Inc. as Dancing Aztecs.

524 pages, Hardcover

Published April 1, 1981

About the author

Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008) was one of the most prolific and talented authors of American crime fiction. He began his career in the late 1950's, churning out novels for pulp houses—often writing as many as four novels a year under various pseudonyms such as Richard Stark—but soon began publishing under his own name. His most well-known characters were John Dortmunder, an unlucky thief, and Parker, a ruthless criminal. His writing earned him three Edgar Awards: the 1968 Best Novel award for God Save the Mark; the 1990 Best Short Story award for "Too Many Crooks"; and the 1991 Best Motion Picture Screenplay award for The Grifters. In addition, Westlake also earned a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1993.

Westlake's cinematic prose and brisk dialogue made his novels attractive to Hollywood, and several motion pictures were made from his books, with stars such as Lee Marvin and Mel Gibson. Westlake wrote several screenplays himself, receiving an Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of The Grifters, Jim Thompson's noir classic.

Some of the pseudonyms he used include
•   Richard Stark
•   Timothy J. Culver
•   Tucker Coe
•   Curt Clark
•   J. Morgan Cunningham
•   Judson Jack Carmichael
•   D.E. Westlake
•   Donald I. Vestlejk
•   Don Westlake

Reviews

[Janet Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is this the shortened version that I've got then? Mine is the one with this cover. I need to buy the other one as I feel cheated!

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Good grief, I'm supposed to be downsizing all my books not buying more. Just got Dancing Aztecs because it's longer. Crazy lady.

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Got the other one, fabulously funny, cried laughing, had to keep wiping my eyes over the original Oscar to start with and it just got better. Surprised at some of the words in the book, don't think that would be allowed now. Must check and see if they're in the UK version for interest sake. Still 10/10 no matter how many times I read it.