The Thomas Berryman Number

With a steel guitar twanging blues in the background, Will Patton performs this reissue of Patterson's 1976 debut novel, which won an Edgar Award for best first mystery. The complex plot intertwines a reporter's relentless pursuit of the killer of Nashville's first black mayor and the path of the assassin himself as he prepares for the biggest murder since Martin Luther King, Jr. Will Patton uses a bluegrass drawl and the soft sound of a New York drug-world hustler, helping the listener understand the complexity of the characters. Patterson's observations are masterfully transformed into critical insights with Patton's skillful pacing. K.A.T. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine