For Flashlight Worthy, she named her favorite 20th century funny novels. One title on the list:
The Hunter: A Parker NovelRead about another book on Frost's list.
by Richard Stark
The recently-deceased popular-fiction genius Donald Westlake was loved for his comic crime novels, but I've always preferred his hard-boiled Parker novels, which I find just as funny. (The Hunter was made into the 1967 film, Point Blank, and was remade recently as Payback with Mel Gibson.)
The Hunter is existential, blunt, wildly-plotted, deadpan, and brutally hilarious. And I'll never forget Westlake at one Edgar Awards evening when he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He responded with a perfect satire of the typical writer's acceptance speech. ("Whither the short story?") I'm still giggling at the memory of his audacity.
--Marshal Zeringue