Ripe for the Picking: LEMONS NEVER LIE

Often when I read, I’m on the lookout for ways to adapt it. What would this comic look like as a puppet show? What would this novel be like as a play? You know this collection of short essays would be a wonderful dance concert! (Seriously, I have had that thought.)

Unfortunately theater is dead, and everyone is waiting for Hollywood to come knocking with a million dollar option. So while I have bookshelves filled with titles I would love to adapt I know that I don’t have the finances or the clout to secure the rights.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at my bookshelf and see what is "Ripe for the Picking."

On New Years Eve mystery writer Donald E. Westlake died at the age of seventy-five. Among his many accomplishments as a writer, were a series of crime novels about a ruthless criminal who went only by the name of Parker. Parker was the main character in 24 novels written under Westlake’s penname Richard Stark.  

Parker had an associate from time to time named Alan Grofield. The remarkable thing about Alan Grofield is that he only a part time criminal; his one true love is the theater. Westlake writing as Stark went on to write four novels for Grofield: The Damsel (1967), The Dame (1969), The Blackbird (1969) and Lemons Never Lie (1971). In 2006 pulp publisher Hard Case Crime reprinted Lemons Never Lie.

In the book Alan Grofield journeys from his Indiana theater to Vegas to hear Andrew Myers’ plan to knock over a brewery in upstate New York.

 
Unfortunately, Myers’ plan involves killing -- so Grofield walks out on the deal, and returns to his theater. Myers doesn’t like being brushed off, and Grofield must protect his wife and his theater from this angry criminal who vows to get revenge.

As more and more theaters seem to be going bankrupt during these difficult economic times, I think the time is ripe for a play where the main character turns to crime to keep his theater company open for one more season.