The Fugitive Pigeon

While Donald Westlake had explored comic elements in earlier books, especially in The Mercenaries (1960), The Fugitive Pigeon represented his first outright comic novel. On behalf of his mob-connected uncle, Charlie Poole manages a money-losing bar in Brooklyn whose primary purpose is to serve as a drop location for mob-related deliveries. When two hit men unexpectedly turn up to kill Charlie, he finds himself on the run and trying to figure out why he was targeted. What follows is a fast and well-plotted book, with some of Westlake’s best (and funniest) characters to date.