If you loved
The Scared Stiff
Donald E. Westlake · Book · 2013
What hooked you in The Scared Stiff was the way ordinary couples descend into chaotic, high-stakes criminality to escape their mounting financial burdens.
Films on the same thread
Double Indemnity
Film · 1944
If you enjoyed the insurance-based duplicity in The Scared Stiff, this classic film offers a darker, more fatalistic look at how greed leads to a lethal unraveling of a fraudulent scheme.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
Adil El Arbi · Film · 2024
Like the desperate protagonists of The Scared Stiff who are forced onto the run, this film captures the same breathless tension of being pursued after a plan goes wrong.
The Thin Man
W.S. Van Dyke · Film · 1934
The Scared Stiff showcases the unique dynamics of a married couple facing danger together, a premise mirrored in this witty film about a husband and wife solving crimes under pressure.
Fun with Dick and Jane
Dean Parisot · Film · 2005
Much like the couple in The Scared Stiff, these suburbanites turn to white-collar crime to solve their financial woes, blending sharp satire with the consequences of their desperate criminal choices.
Series on the same thread
Santa Clarita Diet
Victor Fresco · Series · 2017
If you appreciated the marriage-focused chaos in The Scared Stiff, this series explores how a typical husband and wife team handles the sudden, messy intrusion of life-altering destruction.
Get Shorty
Davey Holmes · Series · 2017
The Scared Stiff excels at mixing crime with dark humor, a tone perfectly echoed here as a professional criminal attempts to navigate the complexities of a completely different world.
Moonlighting
Glenn Gordon Caron · Series · 1985
The Scared Stiff centers on a partnership tested by financial ruin, and this series captures that same spirit of a mismatched duo forced to work together while solving cases.
Brassic
Daniel Brocklehurst · Series · 2019
Just as the characters in The Scared Stiff find their debt-fueled schemes catching up to them, this series follows friends whose history of small-town scams leads to inevitable, mounting trouble.
Podcasts on the same thread
Crime in Sports
James Pietragallo, Jimmie Whisman · Podcast · 2026
The Scared Stiff finds humor in the disastrous consequences of bad decisions, much like this podcast which highlights the absurd and often hilarious legal pitfalls of high-stakes sports figures.
CounterClock
Audiochuck · Podcast · 2025
If the suspenseful investigation of a faked death in The Scared Stiff kept you engaged, this podcast provides a similar deep dive into the mysteries surrounding hidden pasts.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is The Scared Stiff part of the Dortmunder series?
No, The Scared Stiff is a standalone crime thriller by Donald E. Westlake. While Westlake is famous for the Dortmunder novels, this specific book follows the separate story of Lola and Barry as they attempt to escape loan sharks through a faked death insurance scam.
Who is the author of The Scared Stiff?
The Scared Stiff was written by Donald E. Westlake. He is an Edgar Award-winning author known for his crime fiction, including the popular Dortmunder series. This 2013 title focuses on a couple attempting a dangerous insurance fraud scheme to pay off their significant debts.
What is the premise of The Scared Stiff?
In The Scared Stiff, a couple named Lola and Barry owes money to dangerous loan sharks. To escape their debts, Barry hatches a plan to fake the death of one of them. The story follows the consequences of this insurance scam as it turns into a real threat.
When was The Scared Stiff published?
The Scared Stiff was published in 2013. It is a witty crime thriller written by Donald E. Westlake that details the desperate measures taken by Lola and Barry to evade creditors by staging a fake death to collect on an insurance policy.