Donald E. Westlake's caper novels about a master thief named John Dortmunder generally follow the same pattern: Dortmunder prepares meticulously, his plan seems foolproof and then something unexpected happens, sending events spinning out of his control.
But "What's So Funny?" - the 14th book in the Dortmunder saga - begins with Dortmunder already in deep trouble courtesy of an ex-cop turned private detective by the name of Johnny Eppick.
He braces Dortmunder at the O.J. Bar & Grill on Manhattan's Amsterdam Avenue and shows him a photograph of a guy in black lugging a stolen computer down an alley. Dortmunder has already taken two falls and can't afford another, so he's ready to do almost anything to keep that photo from getting into the right hands.
All Dortmunder has to do to prevent that, Eppick explains, is "retrieve" a jewel-encrusted gold chess set that was stolen long ago from his elderly client. Dortmunder figures he has no choice but to go along, but then he gets a look at the C&I Bank Building on Fifth Avenue, where the set is locked away in a basement vault.
"I think I'm going back to jail," he says. The bank is an impregnable fortress.
Not even his buddy Stan's half-baked plan to steal a huge gold-plated dome from a mosque under construction in Brooklyn can jolly Dortmunder out of his sudden depression.
Westlake has written more than 70 crime novels under his own name and under the pseudonym Richard Stark. The Stark novels are serious and hard-boiled, but the Westlake novels, including all the Dortmunder novels, are always a hoot, and "What's So Funny" is no exception.
As usual, the humour comes not only from the quirky characters and the inventive plot twists, but from Westlake's playful writing.
"John Dortmunder was not an alarm clock kind of guy. He preferred to get out of bed when the fancy struck him, which was generally about the crack of noon. But with the necessity this morning of being way over on the Upper West Side at nine o'clock, he knew he had to make an exception. Two days in a row with morning appointments! What kind of evil cloud was he under here, all of a sudden?"
But Dortmunder has plenty of incentive to steal that chess set, so eventually he devises a plan that is ingenious even by his standards.
Soon the caper is under way, with all the regulars taking part, from reliable Andy Kelp to their huge pal Tiny. As always, Westlake also introduces some irresistible new characters, with an unexpectedly adventurous grand dame named Mrs. W. a particular delight.
"What's So Funny" may be the best Dortmunder yarn yet. The hilarious scam he and his partners pull on an armoured car crew is not to be missed.
