Alan Grofield

Alan Grofield is a fictional character created by Donald E. Westlake. He is the main protagonist of four of the 28 novels Westlake has written under the pseudonym Richard Stark, and a supporting character in an additional four. Grofield's first appearance was in the novel The Score, which was published in 1964.

A career criminal and professional thief, Grofield is a devilishly handsome and charming womanizer whose main passion in life is the stage. In fact, the only reason he steals is to keep his summer stock company running, and if he were ever able to make enough money through his legitimate artistic efforts, he would have no trouble giving up his life of crime. Unlike his frequent companion Parker, Grofield is a somewhat inconsistent character, and his adventures run the gamut from hard-boiled crime stories (Lemons Never Lie) to more fanciful, James Bond-style globetrotting and intrigue (The Damsel, The Dame, and The Blackbird).

Novels

• The Score (1964, aka Killtown), a novel in Westlake's Parker series
• The Handle (1966, aka Run Lethal), a novel in Westlake's Parker series
• The Damsel (1967)
• The Dame (1969)
• The Blackbird (1969) — First chapter shared with Slayground (below)
• Lemons Never Lie (1971)
• Slayground (1971), a novel in Westlake's Parker series. Grofield appears only briefly.
• Butcher's Moon (1974), a novel in Westlake's Parker series

Grofield is mentioned in passing in the Parker novel The Sour Lemon Score, but does not appear.

also:

• The Hot Rock (1970), the first of the Dortmunder series, written by Westlake under his real name. Charming ladies' man Alan Greenwood changes his name to Alan Grofield after Dortmunder and company break him out of jail (p. 233). This may or may not be the same Grofield character as that of the Richard Stark novels.

References

Bibliography from Donald Westlake's Web site.

External links

• Web site devoted to the Parker novels, with a special section devoted to Grofield