Alan Grofield Series - Richard Stark

Written by Richard Stark
Read by R. C. Bray, Steve Aveson
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Richard Stark/Donald E. Westlake’s Parker has a partner in crime. Meet Alan Grofield.

1. The Damsel (1967) – R. C. Bray
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Release date: May 1, 2013
Duration: 04:55:03

The Damsel begins directly after the Parker novel The Handle. Following a wounded Grofield and his damsel on a scenic, action-packed road trip from Mexico City to Acapulco, The Damsel is full of wit, adrenaline, and political intrigue.

Grofield has a knack for attracting damsels in distress. Even holed up in a Mexico City hotel room (with thousands in cash and a bullet wound) they manage to find him. When Ellen Marie Fitzgerald comes in through his window, she tells a tale that he promptly dismisses. And just as promptly reconsiders, when a couple of hoods come looking for her. The damsel leads Grofield on a chase across Mexico, running the gauntlet on the one heavily guarded road to Acapulco in hopes of preventing a political assassination. It’s a desperately chivalrous gamble for the gallant part-time actor-cum-thief.

“An unconventionally but effectively constructed novel, ranging from the hardest-boiled action-objectivity to character-introspection in depth.” (New York Times Book Review)

2. The Blackbird (1969) – R. C. Bray
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Release date: June 1, 2013
Duration: 05:00:16

Alan Grofield is a part-time actor. The rest of the time, he’s a thief. If asked, many men would willingly risk their lives for their country. But no one did Grofield the courtesy of asking.

The Blackbird shares its first chapter with Parker’s Slayground. After a traumatic car crash, Parker eludes the police, but Grofield gets caught. Lying injured in the hospital, Grofield is visited by G-Men who offer him an alternative to jail, and he finds himself forced into a deadly situation involving international criminals and a political conspiracy.

Grofield lands him in the Canadian wilderness where Third World delegates have secretly gathered for momentous purposes. The situation is volatile, maybe lethal, and so is the beautiful African from Undurwa whose presence propels Grofield toward a wild and unexpected climax.

3. The Dame (1969) – R. C. Bray
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
File size: 134497 KB
Release date: June 1, 2013
Duration: 04:40:09

Alan Grofield is a part-time actor and part-time thief. When working on a heist with a guy named Parker, he’s all business. On his own, he’s ready for anything at all, especially if it involves a woman. The first time Grofield sees Belle Danemato at her villa in the Puerto Rican jungle, she makes him an offer he can readily refuse. The next time he sees her, she’s dead. And her husband, mob boss B.G. Danemato, can’t get it out of his head that Grofield is responsible. To get out of this alive, Grofield can take his chances against the mobster’s men in the perilous depths of the rain forest or find the real killer without delay. B.G. expects blood, and he wants it yesterday.

4. Lemons Never Lie (1971) – Steve Aveson
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Release date: March 1, 2007
Duration: 05:28:05

When he’s not carrying out heists with his friend Parker, Alan Grofield runs a small theater in Indiana. But putting on shows costs money and jobs have been thin lately - which is why Grofield agreed to fly to Las Vegas to hear Andrew Myers’ plan to knock over a brewery in upstate New York.

Unfortunately, Myers’ plan is insane - so Grofield walks out on him. But Myers isn’t a man you walk out on, and his retribution culminates in an act of unforgivable brutality. That’s when Grofield decides to show him what a disciple of Parker is capable of.

A Review - This 1962 gangster novel set in Las Vegas features Alan Grofield, a theater owner in need of quick money who is invited to join a brewery heist. Everything goes wrong from the beginning. Aveson is perfect as the narrator of an old-fashioned story of misadventure during the commission of a poorly planned crime.