This is the fourth of the 24 Parker novels written by Donald Westlake under the pseudonym of Richard Stark.  Westlake, elected a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, wrote these books over a 48 year period with a long break in the middle.

Stark has created, in Parker, the perfect anti-hero. We never learn his first name or anything about his past. All we know is that he is the mastermind behind capers that yield him enough money to live on until he sets forth on the next one.  He does the planning, puts together the team, organizes the logistics, and takes the lead on the heist, robbery, or other illegal activity.  A man of few words and even fewer emotions, he has a moral code that doesn’t include obeying the law.  This simple, stripped-down portrait of Parker is mirrored in Stark’s writing—no surprise endings, no last second introductions of characters or plot elements.  This is just plain, solid, hard-boiled writing ala Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.

“The Mourner” turned out to be one of my less favorite Parker books.  Hired to steal a 16th C statue called the Mourner, Parker is soon tangled up with a KGB agent, the Outfit, and several assorted bad guys but comes out with a new bullet hole but alive at the other end after the bodies pile up along the way.  As usual, he succeeds in getting his statue and an additional $50,000 to boot.

A classic Stark novel, I wouldn’t recommend this one to start with, but it was a fun read while on vacation in Nantucket!