Author Donald Westlake, 75, who wrote mystery and crime fiction under his own name and that of Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, Samuel Holt and Edwin West, has passed away. The report states that he began writing under pseudonyms because the reading public and publishing companies wouldn’t take his novels as fast as they came to him.

Sarah Weinman has a long list of tributes and reviews for a man she calls, “the incomparable writer of a great many fine crime novels.” Terry Teachout appears to think so too. He reviewed Westlake’s What’s So Funny? in 2007, comparing the author to Wodehouse.

It always surprises me to find out that there are people who don’t know Westlake’s crime novels, most of which are comic and all of which are intensely pleasurable. I’ve been reading him since 1967, which makes me not so much a fan as an addict, and though I’ve liked some of his books more than others, I can’t think of a single one that has failed to divert me, which is a pretty amazing track record.