Ross Thomas (February 19, 1926, in Oklahoma City – December 18, 1995, in Santa Monica, California) was an American writer of crime fiction. He is best known for his witty thrillers that expose the mechanisms of professional politics. He also wrote five novels under the pseudonym Oliver Bleeck about professional go-between Philip St. Ives. Early life Thomas served with the infantry in the Philippines during World War II. He worked as a public relations specialist, correspondent with the Armed Forces Network, union spokesman, and political strategist in the USA, Bonn (Germany), and Nigeria before becoming a writer. Career Thomas's debut novel, The Cold War Swap, introducing McCorkle and Padillo, was written in only six weeks and won a 1967 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Briarpatch earned the 1985 Edgar for Best Novel. In 2002 he was honored with the inaugural Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award, one of only two authors to earn the award posthumously (the other was 87th Precinct author Ed McBain in 2006). In addition to his novels, Thomas also wrote an original screenplay for producer Robert Evans entitled Jimmy the Rumour. The project is the story of a man born without an identity who works as a thief stealing from other thieves. The first three novels in the McCorkle-Padillo series are written in the first person, as are a number of others through Yellow Dog Contract. The fourth and final McCorkle-Padillo novel has an omniscient narrator, as do all of the other novels published after 1976. All five of the Philip St. Ives stories, however, are told in the first person. Death Thomas died of lung cancer in Santa Monica, California, two months before his 70th birthday. Novels The Cold War Swap (1966) The Seersucker Whipsaw (1967) Cast a Yellow Shadow (1967) Singapore Wink (1969) The Fools in Town Are on Our Side (1970) The Backup Men (1971) The Porkchoppers (1972) If You Can't Be Good (1973) The Money Harvest (1975) Yellow-Dog Contract (1976) Chinaman's Chance (1978) The Eighth Dwarf (1979) The Mordida Man (1981) Missionary Stew (1983) Briarpatch (1984) Out on the Rim (1987) The Fourth Durango (1989) Twilight at Mac's Place (1990) Voodoo, Ltd (1992) Ah, Treachery! (1994) As Oliver Bleeck The Brass Go-Between (1969) Protocol for a Kidnapping (1971) The Procane Chronicle (1971) – re-released as St. Ives after being adapted as the 1976 movie starring Charles Bronson. The Highbinders (1973) No Questions Asked