This Goodly Land

Richard North Patterson (February 22, 1947–present)

Alabama Connections

• Birmingham, Jefferson County: adult residence, setting for The Outside Man

Selected Works

• Patterson, Richard North. The Lasko Tangent. New York: Norton, 1979. Rpt. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997.
• Patterson, Richard North. The Outside Man: A Novel. Boston: Little, Brown, 1981. Rpt. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997.
• Patterson, Richard North. Degree of Guilt. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1993. Rpt. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997.
• Patterson, Richard North. Eyes of a Child. New York: Knopf, 1995. Rpt. New York: Ballatine Books, 1998.
• Patterson, Richard North. No Safe Place. New York: Knopf, 1998.
• Patterson, Richard North. Exile. New York: H. Holt, 2007.
• Patterson, Richard North. The Race. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2007.

Literary Awards

• Edgar Allan Poe Award, Best First Novel, Mystery Writers of America, 1980, for The Lasko Tangent

Biographical Information

Richard North Patterson was born in Berkeley, Calif., and grew up in the Cleveland suburb of Bay Village, Ohio. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a BA in 1968 and from Case-Western Reserve University’s School of Law with a JD in 1971. For the next two years, Patterson worked for the Office of the Attorney General of Ohio in Columbus. In 1973, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor. In 1975, Patterson moved to Birmingham, Ala., and became a partner in a law firm there.

Patterson began taking creative writing classes at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, including one taught by Jesse Hill Ford. In these classes, Patterson started writing his first novel, The Lasko Tangent (published in 1979). In 1978, Patterson moved to San Francisco where he worked as an attorney and continued to publish. Discouraged by poor book sales, however, he stopped writing in 1985, moved back to Birmingham, and joined another law firm. In 1992, Patterson began writing again. When Degree of Guilt became a bestseller in 1993, he resigned from legal practice to write full time. A television version of his novels Degree of Guilt and Eyes of a Child was broadcast in 1995. Patterson now divides his time between his homes in San Francisco and Martha’s Vineyard.

Interests and Themes

Richard North Patterson writes thrillers on legal and political subjects. The Outside Man is set in Birmingham, Ala.

For More Information

Please check your local library for these materials. If items are not available locally, your librarian can help you borrow them through the InterLibrary Loan program. Your librarian can also help you find other information about this author.

There may be more information available through the databases in the Alabama Virtual Library. If you are an Alabama citizen, AVL can be used at your public library or school library media center. You can also get a username and password from your librarian to use AVL at home.

Reference Articles

• Kulman, Linda. "He's Not Gun-Shy". U.S. News & World Report 6 Oct. 2003: 19.
• Zeitchik, Steven M.. "Richard North Patterson: The Comeback Candidate". Publishers Weekly 6 Jul. 1998: 37-38.

Reference Web Sites

• "Author: Richard North Patterson". Bookreporter.com. 2008. The Book Report, Inc. http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/au-patterson-richard.asp.
• "Richard North Patterson". Bhamwiki. 2008. http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Richard_North_Patterson.
• Mudge, Alden. "First Person: Patterson Tackles National Politics and Timely Issues in No Safe Place". BookPage. 1998. ProMotion, Inc. http://www.bookpage.com/9809bp/richard_north_patterson.html.
• Sachs, Andrea. "Richard North Patterson Eyes the White House". Time. 2007. Time, Inc. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1681445,00.html.
• Stone, RoseEtta. "A Discussion with Richard North Patterson". Absolute Write. 2007. http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/richard_north_patterson.htm.

oto courtesy of Random House.

Last updated on Oct 10, 2009.