Discussion: Ross Thomas won two Edgars, one for Briarpatch and then for his first mystery in 1966, The Cold War Swap. He has been compared to both Raymond Chandler and John Le Carre. He has written at least 24 books and has used the pseudonym of Oliver Bleek. He was a reporter in Cajun country, in Bonn, and in Washington, D.C. He was a Public Relations man for the National Farmer's Union and for Vista. He was the chief strategist for two aging Union presidents seeking re-election, guided a tribal chief who was trying to become Prime Minister of Nigeria, and in 1956 handled two campaigns simultaneously, one for a Democrat and one for a Republican.
In an Atlantic Monthly article in November 1966 Tony Hiss describes Thomas' writing as having a kind of laconic gusto. He says "try to imagine the kind of writing that might result if a Hollywood studio were able to lock Mark Twain and Dashiel Hammett in a room together and ask for a screenplay in a week's time."
Jonathan Yardley in the Washington Post October 28, 1984 issue states, "One of the most appealing characteristics of his work is that he never lets you get very far from the knowledge that all this foolishness is just that: foolishness."
Briarpatch is the story of Ben Dill, a Washington Congressional investigator, who returns to Oklahoma City, his home town, to find out who murdered his sister, Felicity. We enjoyed the book and Thomas' tongue in cheek humor, and cynicism though we found the ending intriguingly ambiguous. Thomas defines what he means by the title, Briarpatch about three-quarters through the book -- "Grow it high enough and thick enough, there ain't nobody gonna come poking around in it."
However the hero, Ben Dill, keeps poking around in the Briarpatch to find out the who and why of his sister's being killed.
Some liked the fact that though Ben Dill enjoyed a drink, he made a point of not smoking.
This is a book we would recommend to you Mystery Buffs.