Talk:John Dortmunder

There is a crossover chapter in Drowned Hopes. "32 Cadillac", by Joe Gores, is about a San Francisco detective agency tasked with repossessing the cars of the title. Dortmunder & crew have possession of one of the cars, for a brief while. Each of the books share the same scene, but depict it from their own characters' perspective. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.60.243.236 (talk) 01:21, 4 June 2020 (UTC)

I can't find any references for the "literary comparisons" section. Anyone able to provide some? Otherwise that section should be removed. Felisse 18:35, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I've removed it. The passage read like a grade-schooler's comparative book report and added nothing of substance to the article. Huevos666 (talk) 16:48, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

There's info in the introduction to the 2001 Mysterious Press edition of The Hot Rock about Dortmunder's origins, and I want to put the quote here so I can work it into the article (or someone else can):

"One day in 1967 I was wearing my Richard Stark hat, looking for a story to tell about my man Parker, and I thought, he reacts badly to frustration, what if he had to steal the same thing four or five times? I started to work it out, then realized the idea was only comic and Parker wouldn't stand for it. But I still liked the notion, and even — once it was comic — saw how to make it six thefts of the same elusive item. So I'd do it that way.

But if it wasn't Parker, who was it? Who was this guy, dogged but doomed, and what was his name? Without a name, I couldn't see him, and until I could see him I couldn't write about him.

For a long time I just couldn't think of the right name, and then one day, I was in a bar — the only time in my life — and one of the neon beer logos on the back-bar said "DAB — Dortmunder Actien Bier," and I said, "That's what I want, an action hero with something wrong with him," and John Dortmunder was born.

Almost. I started the book, and went along happily for a while, but after three heists I just ran out of steam,

decided it wasn't such a good idea after all, and put the half-novel away forever.

But then, two years later, we were doing some remodeling, and I had to clean out a closet, and came across the partial manuscript, which I had more or less forgotten about. (Why remember failures?) So I sat down and read it, and enjoyed it, and suddenly it stopped. I had to finish the book to find out what happened next.

So there it was, finally complete. Having realized The Habitual Crime wasn't a good title after all, I renamed it THE HOT ROCK, and John Dortmunder's one and only story was ready to fly." (2001 Mysterious Press, The Hot Rock, new introduction by the author) Felisse (talk) 00:13, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

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