Mon 6 Feb 2017
A 1001 Midnights Review: OLIVER BLEECK – The Brass Go-Between.
Posted by Steve under 1001 Midnights , Reviews[6] Comments
by Newell Dunlap
OLIVER BLEECK – The Brass Go-Between. William Morrow & Co., hardcover, 1969. Pocket, paperback, 1971. Perennial Library, paperback, 1983. Warner, paperback, 1993.
Ross Thomas uses the pseudonym Oliver Bleeck for his entertaining Philip St. Ives books. These are fast-paced stories with first-person narration, reminiscent of many private-detective novels. But St. Ives is not a detective, he is a professional go-between — that is, he acts as an intermediary between such parties as kidnappers and the kidnap victim’s family, insurance companies and thieves, etc. He has built a reputation in this strange profession and people on both sides of the law seem to trust him.
In The Brass Go-Between, the first book of the series, he is dealing with the Conker Museum in Washington, D.C., attempting to recover a huge brass shield that has been stolen from the museum’s Pan-African collection. But there is more to the shield than meets the eye. Not only is it historically priceless, it is also a magnificent work of art. Add to this the fact that at least two opposing African nations claim rightful ownership, and it becomes obvious many people would like to discover the whereabouts of the shield.
Naturally, all this complicates St. Ives’s job as he encounters many of the interested parties along the way: Winfield Spencer, a rich and reclusive art collector; and Conception Mbwato, a giant emissary from the African nation of Komporeen, to name but two.
This and the other Oliver Bleeck titles — Protocol for a Kidnapping (1971), The Procane Chronicle (1972), The Highbinders (1974), and No Questions Asked (1976) — are distinguished for their crisp dialogue, unusual background and understated sense of irony. Qualities, of course, that Thomas also infuses into his novels published under his own name.
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Reprinted with permission from 1001 Midnights, edited by Bill Pronzini & Marcia Muller and published by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2007. Copyright © 1986, 2007 by the Pronzini-Muller Family Trust.
February 6th, 2017 at 3:43 pm
Ross Thomas is my favorite author. While I enjoyed the St Ives books none ever reached the appeal of Thomas’s other work. If I was to point to the difference between Thomas and Bleeck, it would be with the protagonist. None of Thomas’s protagonist took themselves too seriously and most were very good at their job and knew it – even with the self-deprecating humor of many. Bleeck’s St Ives wallowed in a self-loathing that spoiled the fun. People died in St Ives’ books and sometimes due to St Ives’ actions.
I tend to smile through a Thomas book from its wit – of the characters, the situations, and even the words of Thomas descriptions. The St Ives has most of that but with a depressing main character.
February 6th, 2017 at 9:21 pm
Through serendipity, Bill Crider and I were talking about one of our favorite writers, Ross Thomas. Bill is reading one of Ross Thomas’s books and I mentioned I’ve read every book Ross Thomas wrote…except for the “Oliver Bleeck” books. Bill saw your post for today which directly addresses those books. Chance is a funny thing!
February 6th, 2017 at 11:12 pm
Coincidences like this happen to me all the time. Comes from being actively involved with things that interest you, I think. Even so, they never cease to amaze me.
February 6th, 2017 at 9:35 pm
Minor Thomas, but major almost anyone else.I much preferred Durant and Wu and McCorkle and Padillo to St. Ives.
February 6th, 2017 at 11:10 pm
It’s been a long time since I read it, but I liked this one. More, I confess, than any by Thomas under his own name. I don’t know why, but as hard as I try, Ross Thomas’s books and I just don’t jibe.
February 7th, 2017 at 10:04 am
The PROCANE CHRONICLE was filmed as “St. Ives” in 1976 as a Charles Bronson vehicle. Barry Beckerman did the screenplay. Thomas did not get a shot at a screenplay until he did “Hammett” (with others) in 1982 with Frederic Forrest as Hammett. The presence of Elisha Cook, Jr. graced both of these movies.