History Literature / Dortmunder

* AmbiguousSituation: Whether the author's DarkerAndEdgier ''Literature/{{Parker}}'' novels exist as a fictional series in this universe or they are part of a SharedUniverse w a different ''Parker'' novel series existing can be hard to tell.

** Kelp reading ''Parker'' novels is a key part of ''Jimmy the Kid'', but Parker is involved in kidnapping for ransom (a racket he repeatedly criticizes and views as beneath him in his own series), making the fictional ''Parker'' book Kelp reads feel like it's from a different series.

** Arnie Albright, Dortmunder's fence, is an utterly obnoxious man who no one likes dealing with despite how he offers top dollar. Even ''Arnie'' knows how obnoxious and unlikable he is. [[CharacterDevelopment although he gets a little better in his last appearance]].

# ''The Hot Rock''
# ''Bank Shot''
# ''Jimmy the Kid''
# ''Nobody's Perfect''
# ''Why Me?''
# ''Good Behavior''
# ''Drowned Hopes''
# ''Don't Ask''
# ''What's the Worst That Could Happen?''
# ''Bad News''
# ''The Road to Ruin''
# ''Watch Your Back!''
# ''What's So Funny?''
# ''Get Real''

** Little Feather in ''Bad News'' goes form being a member of a group wanting to kill the gang because [[[HeKnowsTooMuch of what they know]] to coming to appreciate them more and kind of hoping they outmaneuver her partners.

John Archibald Dortmunder is a fictional character created by ''Creator/DonaldWestlake'', and who is the protagonist of 14 comic novels and 11 short stories published between 1970 and 2009. He first appeared in the novel ''The Hot Rock'', published in 1970.

Dortmunder is a career criminal and a planner; creating schemes for burglaries, assembling a team, and assigning responsibilities. However, Dortmunder's schemes never run as smoothly as he would like them to, and almost always dissolve into a PlethoraOfMistakes, followed by CrimeAfterCrime as Dortmunder and his crew have to commit a succession of different crimes while attempting to achieve their original goal (if they haven't lost sight of the original goal altogether).

* CollidingCriminalConspiracies: In the short story "Too Many Crooks," Dortmunder and Kelp tunnel into a bank right as it's being robbed by a quintet of armed gun men. [[RightPlaceRightTimeWrongReason They pretend to be hostage rescue cops when they find the bank vault is filled with hostages. Moments later, the gunmen come down to the vault. Dortmunder is mistaken for one of the hostages and dragged out of the vault to be held at gunpoint as a warning to the police, while Kelp helps the hostages escape through the tunnel]]. Kelp also [[RefugeInAudacity tricks the hostages into carrying all of the money out through the tunnel (so the robbers won't get it)]] and take it to his getaway car (which he claims is an unmarked squad car).

* DotingGrandparent: Max Hemlow, their employer.blackmailer from ''What's So Funny'' temporarily calls off the job out of concern when their preparation gets the inside man (his granddaughter) fired.

* DivorceAssetsConflict: Preston Fairweather (the target of Dortmudner's team from ''Watch Your Back!'') has spent years outside of the country in order to avoid being served by his multiple ex-wives (who've joined together) with their combined suits likely to wipe him out financially. Eventually they get so fed up with this that they have Preston kidnapped in an effort to bring him onto American soil to be served.

* SingleLineOfDescent: In ''Bad News,'' to fool a DNA test, Dortmund needs to steal the hair of a descendant of a man who died seventy years ago. They find a total of one adult descendant, who (along with her three daughters) is the live-in caretaker of a tightly-guarded art museum. Earlier generations of the family had more than one kid, but her aunt died in a car accident as a teenager, and her great-aunts were a nun and a lesbian, respectively, so none of them produced any additional branches of heirs.

* UnintentionallyNotoriousCrime: A ring Dortmudner steals from a safe in ''Why Me?'' turns out to have huge diplomatic significance and bring down the police, the underworld and various terorist groups looking for him.

* DivorceAssetsConflict: Preston Fairweather (the target of Dortmudner's team from ''Watch Your Back!'') has spent years outside of the country in order to avoid being served by his multiple ex-wives (who've joined together) with their combined suits likely to wipe him out financially. Eventually they get so fed up with this that they have Preston kidnapepd in an effort to bring him onto American soil to be served.

* NumberOneDime: In ''What's the Worst That Could Happen?'', Dortmunder's partner May inherits a cheap shiny ring from her horse-playing uncle, who always swore the ring brought him luck. On an impulse, Dortmunder puts the ring on before going out on his next job: burgling the supposedly empty beach house of a billionaire. Dortmunder is caught by the billionaire, who--[[EvilIsPetty in an act of sheer pettiness]]--claims the ring is his and takes it off Dortmunder before handing him over to the police. The superstitious Dortmunder escapes fro, the police and is now convinced that the ring is lucky and that he won't have any good luck until he gets it back. What follows is a string of jobs aimed various properties owned by the billionaire. Ironically, these jobs keep scoring Dortmunder and his accomplices bigger and bigger profits but not the ring. When Dortumunder finally retrieves the ring, May is able to persuade him that maybe the ring is only lucky if he doesn't wear it, and to just leave it in his drawer from now on.

* TheDreaded: Tiny Bulcher has a very fearsome reputation, and even ''Tiny'' is scared off Tom Jimson from ''Drowned Hopes''.

* HeroicBastard: Mrytle (the illegitimate daughter of Tom Jimson) is a PluckyGirl with a decent moral compass who is largely an innocent bystander throughout things.

* HiddenInPlainSight: In ''Bank Shot'' while Herman is trying to get the safe open, Dortmunder and company hide the repainted bank trailer in a trailer park. May and Murch's Mom lampshade it by referring to "The Purloined Letter".

** Arnie Albright, Dortmunder's fence, is an utterly obnoxious man who no one likes dealing with despite how he offers top dollar. Even ''Arnie'' knows how obnoxious and unlikable he is. [[CharacterDevelopment although he gets better in his last appearance]].

* HyperCompetentSidekick: Kelp to Dortmunder (given his better luck and technology adaptiveness). Preston Fairweather's secretary Alan.