Richard Stark

Richard Stark is the pseudonym of Donald E. Westlake, a prolific American crime fiction author renowned for inventing the iconic antihero Parker in noir novels like The Hunter, which inspired films such as Point Blank and Payback. Westlake, writing as Stark, produced the Parker series from 1962 to 1974 and resumed it later, earning recognition as a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master in 1993. Note: This refers to the literary author, distinct from the fashion designer of the same name.