Alan Grofield

Alan Grofield is a fictional character created by Donald E. Westlake. He is the main protagonist of four of the 28 novels Westlake has written under the pseudonym Richard Stark, and a supporting character in an additional four. Grofield's first appearance was in the novel The Score, which was published in 1964.

A career criminal and professional thief, Grofield is a devilishly handsome and charming womanizer whose main passion in life is the stage. This love of theatre does not extend to cinema; Grofield has a deep disdain for television and film acting, and despite the fact that film and TV roles can be lucrative, Grofield will not pursue acting opportunities in these fields. The primary reason he steals is to keep his company running, and he might well quit his second profession if he could make a living through his first--but he finds his second profession fulfilling as well.

During the events of The Score, Grofield meets his future wife and acting partner, Mary Deegan, a hostage taken during the heist in that novel, who insists on leaving town with him. She is referenced in the Grofield novels, and features prominently in Lemons Never Lie. She helps him run his theater, and serves as his leading lady. Grofield is very happy with her, but feels no compunction about being with other women when he's away on a heist.

Unlike his frequent companion Parker, Grofield is a somewhat inconsistent character, and his adventures run the gamut from hard-boiled crime stories (Lemons Never Lie) to more fanciful, James Bond-style globetrotting and intrigue (The Damsel, The Dame, and The Blackbird). Grofield is not mentioned in any of the eight Parker novels after Butcher's Moon, and we do not learn whether he's dead, imprisoned, or has simply retired from heisting.

Grofield is mentioned in passing in the Parker novel The Sour Lemon Score, but does not appear.

also:

Since The Hot Rock was originally going to be a Parker novel, Westlake probably intended the earlier version of Grofield to be in it, and then adapted him into a similar yet very different character once he realized a comic Parker novel wouldn't work.

Bibliography from Donald Westlake's Web site.

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