Thomas Gifford

Thomas Eugene Gifford was an American author of several international thriller novels, which have gone on to become international bestsellers. His first attempt at writing was his 1974 published novel “Benchwarmer Bob” that was moderately successful. The novel was a biography of Bob Lurtsema, a Minnesota Vikings defensive layer. The 1975 published “Wind Chill Factor” was a novel featuring John Cooper a character investigating dark dealings of the Fourth Reich that would be revisited in the 1994 published “First Sacrifice”. Gifford who came into the limelight with the publication of the international crime thriller “The Glendower Legacy” also wrote as Dana Clarins and Thomas Maxwell. Not one to be known as a one hit wonder, he published the explosive Vatican thriller “The Assassini” that established his name as one of the best international espionage thriller writers of his time. The two novels featured the lead character George Washington, the founding father of the United States as a British spy. Similar to many novels following Dan Brown’s international bestseller the “Da Vinci Code”, the novel posits that the Catholic Church is a criminal organization involved in several far-reaching international conspiracies. The bestselling novel “The Glendower Legacy” was adapted into a movie title “Dirty Tricks” in 1981. Gifford’s novels have won several awards over the years including a Putnam Prize for “The Wind Chill Factor” that won bet first novel. “The Glendower Legacy” and “The Cavanagh Quest” have made the shortlist for the Edgar Award.