Customer Reviews

Somebody Owes Me Money

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Baseball, football and basketball all have their Halls of Fame. The equivalent among mystery writers would be the Grand Masters, a title awarded once a year to honor the lifetime achievement of a particular writer. The Grand Masters are the best of the best, and one of their most shining examples would be Donald Westlake.

Westlake has been writing crime stories for over four decades, both under his own name and his pseudonym, Richard Stark (he has had other pseudonyms such as Tucker Coe that have long since been retired). As Stark, he writes the classic Parker novels featuring the thief with a heart of steel. Under his own name, he has written Oscar-nominated screenplays (The Grifters) and a whole string of novels that are often, but not always, comic. Somebody Owes Me Money, the latest Hard Case Crime book to feature Westlake, is one of those comic novels.

The narrator of Somebody Owes Me Money is cab driver Chet Conway, an ordinary guy who likes to play the ponies, never getting seriously in debt but also never getting ahead. One of Chet's fares gives him a real tip: not money, but some inside information on a longshot that is certain to win. Conway takes a chance and on a small bet wins $930 (which in 1960's New York can go a long way).

Unfortunately, when he comes to collect from his bookie, the man is dead, leaving Chet in a bind. For one thing, the police are now regarding him with suspicion; for another, he doesn't know who to collect his winnings from. What's worse, it turns out that the bookie was entangled with two rival gangs, both of which suspect Chet of the killing, as does the bookie's beautiful blonde sister. For self-preservation - and to get his money - Chet will have to try and solve this crime himself.

As always, Westlake is a master of both suspense and humor, making this book a delight to read. If you're expecting one of Hard Case Crime's typical gritty pulp novels, this will be a bit of a surprise but no disappointment; you will get a nice example of what makes Westlake one of the very best in the business.

I'm really glad that Hard Case Crime has chosen to reprint this early Donald Westlake novel, not only because Somebody Owes Me Money is a really good book, but also for a more personal reason. I've been reading his series books for so long -- whether under his own name, or the Richard Stark pseudonym -- that I had really forgotten how good Westlake could be at standalone comic crime novels.

The most eloquent cab driver in New York City, Chet Conway works nights so he can spend his days at the track (and he works days where there are no races). When he gets a tip on a horse instead of the usual spendable gratuity, Chet decides that a man who can calculate in his head the return on a $3.54 bet at 22-to-1 odds must know what he's talking about.

But when Chet goes to pick up his winnings ("Almost a thousand dollars! I was rich!"), he finds his bookie Tommy McKay "spread out on the floor, sunny side up. With the yolk broken." And suddenly people start thinking he did it. Tommy's wife Louise, the police, the syndicate, etc. But nobody seems to know where he can go now to collect his $930.00 payoff.

When Tommy's sister Abbie climbs into his cab, things take a definite turn for the worse. Chet gets shot in the head and has to recuperate at Tommy's place, where eventually every member of organized crime in the city treads through, wanting to know why Chet killed Tommy. Chet has to clear his name by figuring out the real killer.

Somebody Owes Me Money is one of the few actual mysteries put out by Hard Case Crime. Off the top of my head I can only think of three, but they all involve licensed private investigators, as opposed to this amateur. After all, Chet may be eloquent, but, like all good crime protagonists, he's also a little dim. (Truly smart people manage to avoid these situations.)

God Save the Mark is more wildly clever (it's Westlake's masterpiece, in my opinion), and any given Dortmunder book has more belly laughs, but Somebody Owes Me Money is still vastly entertaining (with an ending that is 180° from the typical whodunit) and yet another reason why every Donald E. Westlake book, even the lesser-known ones, should stay continuously in print.

When poker playing, racetrack going, cab driver Chester "Chet" Conway gets stiffed on a tip he's a bit miffed. Then the fair gives him a tip of a different kind. A sure thing. The man seemed to know his stuff, so Chet calls his bookie Tommie McKay and places a bet and to his surprise the horse comes in and Chet wins $930, almost a thousand bucks, he feels rich. But when he goes to collect, he finds Tommy "spread out on the floor, sunny side up. With the yolk broken." This is not good, all of a sudden he's gone from riches to inches away from being booked for murder.

And to make matters worse there are two rival gangs who think Chet did it and for reasons of their own are after Chet. Then Tommy's wife goes missing. Things just aren't looking good for poor Chester. And I shouldn't forget to mention Abbie, Tommy's revenge seeking sister, definitely a girl you don't want to mess with.

Chet better find out what really happened before he's next on the list. Plus there's that matter of the almost one thousand dollars, somebody owes Chet $930. This is simply a great story that delivers great characters and some good laughs along the way. Kudos to Hard Case Crime for bringing back this 1969 Donald Westlake Mystery.

Or, "did" it again: "Somebody Owes Me Money" was originally published in 1969. The "money" that is owed is only $900, though, so every time he talks about that I found myself trying to do quick calculations for inflation in my head. (It's roughly $5,000, if you're interested.) This comic caper reminded me a lot of Westlake's "Payback" (which he wrote under his Richard Stark alias). There's a lot of action, and the allure of sex tossed in for good measure. For a pulp tale, the ending actually surprised me--it's almost as if Westlake is winking at his readers... A fun, smart book.

I have to admit that The Kid got a little misty-eyed when he saw that Hard Case Crime had published SOMEBODY OWES ME MONEY by Donald E. Westlake. I had owned a copy of it the first time around but lost it in an ill-fated cross-country move in 1973. For the longest time it had been inexplicably out of print --- until now.

Westlake has been a master craftsman for so long that it's difficult to remember a time when he wasn't around and doing excellent work. In SOMEBODY OWES ME MONEY we meet Chet Conway, a cab driver who lives with his dad and likes to play the ponies with an off-track New York betting establishment consisting of a one-man operation named Tommy McKay. Acting on a tip, he improbably wins. However, when he goes to collect his prize, Conway finds McKay dead with no money to be had. The cops are suspicious, as are two groups of mobsters who are shooting first and asking questions later. Conway is not a tough guy and wants nothing to do with criminals or the police; he simply wants the money he won in the bet.

Conway does have one friend in this mess who has suddenly become his life: McKay's sister Abbie, an attractive, street-smart card dealer from Vegas who has flown to New York to avenge her brother's murder. She, too, initially blames Conway but soon settles down enough to try to find the real killer even as she is slowly but surely becoming attracted to him. The result is that they both wind up being pursued by rival gangs, each of whom thinks that Conway is in the other's employ.

Conway soon realizes that, in order to resume a peaceful life, he's going to have to solve McKay's murder. Interestingly enough --- and here is where Westlake's subtle brilliance shines through --- while it is Conway's gambling habits that get him into this jam, it's also his gambling that ultimately reveals the true killer's identity. And you can guess who it is if you pay very close attention and if, like Conway when he places his racing bet, you are very lucky.

I would be tempted to say that they don't write 'em like SOMEBODY OWES ME MONEY anymore, but that would be incorrect. Westlake continues to annually add to his incredible body of work. This treasure, once lost but now found, is a sheer joy from beginning to end.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I was a long way off being born when most of Donald E Westlake's classic novels were published. For the last few years I have been tracking down his classic novels and paying a bit of money for some of them. So it is great to see Hard Case Crime reprinting some of his older stuff so that firstly you can get a book in pretty good condition (rare for Westlake stories this old) and get the book for a lot cheaper price as well. I also work in a public library so have come across a bit of criticism from those who have borrowed this that it is not really funny like his other work but those people just don't understand. Somebody Owes Me Money is not a comic caper, it's a crime caper yes but not intended to be humorous like Westlake set out to do with his hilarious comic caper masterpieces such as Smoke, The Spy in the Ointment and a New York Dance (also published as (Dancing Aztecs), Cops and Robbers and so on.

The thing some readers who have discovered Westlake through a comic caper don't understand is that Westlake has successfully written over a number of genres throughout the years, such as harder (although still light reads) crime mysteries such as this book and 361 (also recently republished under Hard Case Crime's collection). He's also written a comic cpaer Western (Gangway), science fiction novels such as Anarchaos and Humans, psychopathic killer novels (Pity Him Afterwards) as well as written in other genres. And that's just under his own name he has many successful pen name titles out there as well, the most famous being Richard Stark.

So what's Somebody Owes Me Money about? Chet Conway a New York cab driver is annoyed when a well to do man gives him the tip to bet on a horse instead of cash. He decides even though he should have got cash the guy looked like he might know something and what purpose would he have to give him bad information so places a wager with his bookie in the hope of clearing some debt. To his surprise the long shot horse wins and he's done more than clear his debts, he's rich winning over $9000 (remember this was written back in 1969 so that's worth a lot more back then). Unfortunately when he goes to get the money he finds his bookie dead, whose wife finds him alerts the neighbours and he's staring down a hammer until the police arrive. To the police obviously he is a suspect but as Chet keeps coming back to the bookie's apartment in the hope of finding the wife or someone who he can collect his winnings from he becomes the main suspect in two rival mob gangs' eyes as well. Not only that but the bookie's beautiful sister has flown in from Vegas also after vengeance and also holds the belief he is the murderer. The only way Chet is going to make it out of this alive is to work out who really did kill his bookie.

This is a sensational novel which is actually more enjoyable with the references to an earlier time such as landline telephones, a reference to the 90's which is obviously the 1890's and so forth. Chet also refers to a character named Robert Mitchum a couple of times in the novel, not being alive when this was first published I have no idea who that is, but you can tell it's some TV/movie action star or something. This is a great book, grab a copy while it's is reasonably priced!

If you are only into Westlake comic capers others worth checking out are The Fugitive Pigeon, The Busy Body, God Save the Mark, Who Stole Sassi Manoon?, Help I am Being Held Prisoner, Castle in the Air, Enough and High Adventure.

Of course you also have to check out Westlake's greatest ever masterpiece The Ax along with his Parker series under his pen name Richard Stark as well!

I recently read that the author had died. Never having read any of his books I was motivated to get one. I believe this was originally published in 1969. So, it was a fun read going back forty years in New York City to a time of rival mobsters, bookies, crooked cops, weekly poker games and hard working cab drivers. Much of the action takes place in Manhattan with a few excursions to Long Island, Queens and Brooklyn. Chester Conway, the cab driver who had picked up a tip on a long shot horse that brought him a good win of $930 went to collect from his bookie and found the bookie to have been shot to death and he himself increasingly involved in a scenario of complex situations. This was,to me, a quick enjoyable read.

In Somebody Owes Me Money (1969, reprinted 2008), Mr. Westlake shifts gears and writes a snappy comedy. Cab driver Chet Conway loves to play the horses, and when a mysterious fare gives him a tip for a tip, Chet puts his last remaining credit down with his bookie. Purple Pecunia (sic) gallops to a win and Chet dashes to pick up his cash... only to find the bloody corpse of Tommy the Bookie.

Poor unlucky/lucky Chet. As he remarks, if he weren't so eloquent, he never would've charmed the passenger. And if he had never charmed the passenger, he never would've received the tip and wound up in such a mess. Chet's immediately accused of the murder, then let off. Then, he's promptly kidnapped by gangs - two of them - each of them convinced that Chet is working for the opposition. Finally, Tommy's sister flies to town from Vegas to avenge her brother's death.

Chet just wants his money. Even when things get heated, his motivation is perfectly clear. He has no idea what this is all about - he doesn't actually care. The gangsters and the cops and the adulterers and the Vegas vixens can all do their own thing. Leave him out of it. And, of course, give him his money.

In all fairness to Chet, the Vegas vixen (she's actually a blackjack dealer), Abigail, gives him a new motivation. Abi (like Chet/Chester, she insists on the diminutive) is determined to play private investigator and drags the mostly-unwilling Chet along for the ride. While she stirs and schemes, Chet patiently drives her from place to place, noshing on danishes, bemoaning his empty wallet and sneaking peeks at his pretty passenger. Their repartee is terrific. Abi's no sidekick or second-wheel, she's the driving (no pun intended) force of their partnership and the two develop a genuine fondness for one another that's a joy to read.

In fact, from start to finish, Somebody Owes Me Money is a pleasure. Chet's so-called "eloquence" is really a sort of blinkered chutzpah that makes him as unnaturally fearless as any hard-boiled PI. Even when the bullets start flying, Chet never really feels like he's in danger. This is all a silly mistake and if someone would just give him his money, it will all go away. My favorite scene is when Chet (recovering from a shot that grazed him) is visited, consecutively, by every major player in the book, resulting in a series of Nero Wolfe jokes. Eventually, all the mobster rivals show up at the same time to much hullaballoo. Chet can't be bothered to deal with them all, so while the rivals face off in the living room, he strolls into the kitchen and calmly makes a sandwich.

Mr. Westlake doesn't cheat on the mystery aspect either. The solution was a sneaky one, but the clues are there to make it solvable. The problem is, Chet and Abi are so engaging that they maks it hard to play detective. Still, the cheerful duo bounce from one suspect to another, eliminating possibilities and eventually concluding in a high-stakes card game with the Whoddunit (something I think Nero Wolfe would appreciate).

A cabbie wins big on a race, but when he goes to his bookie to collect finds a corpse. While dodging rival mobsters and a revenge-bent sister, he ponders the problem of how to get his winnings.

I liked this book; it moves at a quick pace and has moments of sardonic comedy in it. It's also a fast read.

Chester Conway is a New York cabbie who wins money on a horserace; unfortunately, when he goes to collect from a friend/bookie, the man is found dead...and Conway is pursued by the police, the mob, and a beautiful blond whose attire consists of a skirt and black leather boots throughout the novel (a plus!)...

Each chapter is a cliffhanger, and there are many 'twists and turns' since everybody seems to think Conway had something to do with the murder...and Conway (like an Alfred Hitchcock character) is in much of the dark as the people pursuing him.

I would have expected more from the ending considering Conway went through a lot in the novel to get to the bottom of his bookie's murder, but majority of the novel has a pretty good pace, and the characters were interesting.

Recommended....