Title Search

I received a query the other day from a Rap Sheet reader who’s trying to locate a couple of novels, the names of which he can’t remember. I don’t recognize the books either, so I’m hoping that somebody else out there will help. Here’s the reader’s note:

I recently saw a reference to Joe Gores that reminded me of a wonderful, and unpublicized, twist he and Donald Westlake, writing as Richard Stark, pulled off several years ago. If my recall is accurate, Gores had a scene in one of his books describing one of the Dan Kearney and Associates (the DKA files) skip tracers following a lead and knocking on a house door in the Bay Area. The door was answered by Parker, Stark’s go-to bad guy, who gave the guy an acceptable answer and off the investigator went, none the wiser. Parker and his gang were at the house planning a caper and were quite suspicious when the DKA investigator showed up at the door. Joe Gores writes the scene from the eyes of the DKA investigator and Westlake (Stark) writes it from the perspective of Parker. Can you recall the names of the two books, one by Joe Gores and one by Richard Stark, that these scenes appear in? I had one of those déjà vu moments when reading the scene in the Stark book after reading the Gores book months before.

Thanks for your help.

If you know the titles this reader is seeking, please share that information in the Comments section of this post.