Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death

The prolific mystery writer Donald Westlake (1933-2008) had more pen names than most authors have published novels. His finest work appeared under either his own name or as Richard Stark, but one of his more unique creations was a five-volume series published under the pseudonym Tucker Coe. These books feature Mitch Tobin, a former NYPD officer who was fired after his negligence contributed to his partner’s death. While Tobin’s tortured history is a genre cliche, Westlake's stories have strong procedural plots and NYC-based settings, as well as a cast of interesting characters. Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death is the first book in the series; in it, Tobin is secretly hired by the mob to investigate an in-house murder.