SIGNED BY JAMES PATTERSON

PATTERSON, James. The Thomas Berryman Number. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown, (1976). Octavo, original blue and black paper boards, original dust jacket. $2400.

First edition of this Edgar Award-winning debut mystery novel, boldly signed on the title page by James Patterson.

James Patterson's debut novel won the Edgar Award for best first novel. The plot centers on "story behind the assassination of Nashville's Senate-aspiring black Mayor, Jimmie Lee Horn, as recounted by investigative reporter Ochs Jones. The murder appeared to be the work of a deranged divinity student (seemingly filmed in the act) until the babblings of Ben Toy, Berryman's guilt-ridden accomplice, bring Jones to the scene. Toy paints a picture of Berryman as an imaginative (IQ: 166) Texas-born bag man whose expert contract handling is both clever and foolproof. But not perfect—especially since the journalist manages to piece together the story of his life and reconstruct the events of his last kill… [T]his is a neat first number by a promising new author" (Kirkus).

Book fine, dust jacket very nearly so. A desirable signed copy.