This is the earliest of the 4 Thomas books I found on the
shelves of my local public library branch, a mid-70s novel
reprinted in paperback by Mysterious Press in the early 90s.
It's the only one of his books I've read. I have to admit
that I didn't even recognize his name when it was raised on
the list.
I found the book a light, fast, fairly diverting read, a
little dated but sometimes in a quite amusing way. E.g. the
description of the clothes worn by a dandyish antique dealer.
Public policy concerns of the time, like the energy crisis
and the big Soviet wheat buy-up of the early '70s, get some
mention. The latter may even have suggested the plot.
The story opens with the murder by Washington D.C. street
thugs of a 93-year-old former political power broker, who
happened to be in the men's room of a fancy gentleman's club
the night before, and overheard discussion of a criminal
conspiracy. He contacted his old law partner that night and
was to have provided details the day of his murder. So the
law partner and a rich, successful former private
investigator decide to look into the murder and
conspiracy.
Most of the entertainment value of the book, for me, was in
the descriptions of the various characters and their
"backstories", not their roles in the plot. They are
generally darkish, and also humourous in a satirical way.
There's also a bit of satire on the workings of government
and the lives of civil servants. There is little suspense.
The investigator does a few interesting things, but basically
operates on the basis of a big, correct hunch.
I don't know how typical of Thomas's works "The Money
Harvest" is. Having read it, I'll be thinking of Thomas as a
writer of reasonably intelligent easy-to-read entertainments.
I won't be in a hurry to pick up another, but I probably will
at some point.
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 21 Feb 2005 EST