The Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries by Lawrence Block (#01-10)
Requirements: Mobi Reader | 6.5 MB
Overview:Lawrence Block (born June 24, 1938) is an American crime writer best known for two long-running New York–set series, about the recovering alcoholic P.I. Matthew Scudder and gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, respectively. Block was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 1994.
Genre: Fiction | Mystery/Thrillers | Crime
Bernie Rhodenbarr is the protagonist of the Burglar series of comic mystery novels by Lawrence Block. He first appeared in Burglars Can’t Be Choosers, published in 1977; as of 2014, he has appeared in eleven novels by Block, as well as four short stories (Like a Thief in the Night, The Burglar Who Dropped In On Elvis, The Burglar Who Smelled Smoke and "A Bad Night for Burglars").
1. Burglars Can’t Be Choosers (1977).
Bernie Rhodenbarr is a personable chap, a good neighbor, a passable poker player. His chosen profession, however, might not sit well with some. Bernie is a burglar, a good one, effortlessly lifting valuables from the not-so-well-protected abodes of well-to-do New Yorkers like a modern-day Robin Hood. (The poor, as Bernie would be the first to tell you, alas, have nothing worth stealing.) He’s not perfect, however; he occasionally makes mistakes. Like accepting a paid assignment from a total stranger to retrieve a particular item from a rich man’s apartment. Like still being there when the cops arrive. Like having a freshly slain corpse lying in the next room, and no proof that Bernie isn’t the killer.
2. The Burglar in the Closet (1978).
It’s hard to ignore someone with his hands in your mouth. Bernie Rhodenbarr’s all ears when Dr. Sheldrake, his dentist, starts complaining about his detestable, soon-to-be-ex wife, and happens to mention the valuable diamonds she keeps lying around the apartment. Since Bernie’s been known to supplement his income as a bookstore owner with the not-so-occasional bout of high-rise burglary, a couple of nights later he’s in the Sheldrake apartment with larceny on his mind — and has to duck into a closet when the lady of the house makes an unexpected entrance. Unfortunately he’s still there when an unseen assailant does Mrs. Sheldrake in . . . and then vanishes with the jewels. Bernie’s got to come out of the closet some time. But when he does, he’ll be facing a rap for a murder he didn’t commit — and for a burglary he certainly attempted — unless he can hunt down the killer who left him hanging.
3. The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling (1979).
Bernie Rhodenbarr has gone legit — almost — as the new owner of a used bookstore in New York’s Greenwich Village. Of course, dusty old tomes don’t always turn a profit, so to make ends meet, Bernie’s forced, on occasion, to indulge in his previous occupation: burglary. Besides which, he likes it. Now a collector is offering Bernie an opportunity to combine his twin passions by stealing a very rare and very bad book-length poem from a rich man’s library. The heist goes off without a hitch. The delivery of the ill-gotten volume, however, is a different story. Drugged by the client’s female go-between, Bernie wakes up in her apartment to find the book gone, the lady dead, a smoking gun in his hand, and the cops at the door. And suddenly he’s got to extricate himself from a rather sticky real-life murder mystery and find a killer — before he’s booked for Murder One.
4. The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza (1980).
Bookselling burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr doesn’t generally get philosophical about his criminal career. He’s good at it, it’s addictively exciting and it pays a whole lot better than pushing old tomes. He steals therefore he is, period. He might well ponder, however, the deeper meaning of events at the luxurious Chelsea brownstone of Herb and Wanda Colcannon, which is apparently burgled three times on the night Bernie breaks in: once before his visit and once after. Fortunately he still manages to lift some fair jewelry and an extremely valuable coin. Unfortunately burglar or burglars number three leave Herb unconscious and Wanda dead . . . and the cops think Rhodenbarr dunnit. There’s no time to get all existential about it, especially after the coin vanishes and the fence fencing it meets with a most severe end. But Bernie is going to have to do some deep thinking to find a way out of this homicidal conundrum.
5. The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian (1983).
It’s not that used bookstore owner and part-time burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr believes the less legal of his two professions is particularly ethical. (It is, however, a rush, and he is very good at it.) He just thinks it’s unfair to face a prison term for his legitimate activities. After appraising the worth of a rich man’s library — conveniently leaving his fingerprints everywhere in the process — Bernie finds he’s the cops’ prime suspect when his client is murdered. Someone has framed Bernie Rhodenbarr better than they do it at the Whitney. And if he wants to get out of this corner he’s been masterfully painted into, he’ll have to get to the bottom of a rather artful — if multiply murderous — scam
6. The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams (1994).
Bernie Rhodenbarr is actually trying to earn an honest living. It’s been an entire year since he’s entered anyone’s abode illegally to help himself to their valuables. But now an unscrupulous landlord’s threat to increase Bernie’s rent by 1,000% is driving the bookseller and reformed burglar back to a life of crime — though, in all fairness, it’s a very short trip. And when the cops wrongly accuse him of stealing a priceless collection of baseball cards, Bernie’s stuck with a worthless alibi since he was busy burgling a different apartment at the time . . . one that happened to contain a dead body locked inside a bathroom. So Bernie has a dilemma. He can trade a burglary charge for a murder rap. Or he can shuffle all the cards himself and try to find the joker in the deck — someone, perhaps, who believes that homicide is the real Great American Pastime.
7. The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart (1995).
Bookseller Bernie Rhodenbarr’s in love with an exotic Eastern European beauty who shares his obsession with Humphrey Bogart movies. He’s in heaven, munching popcorn with his new amour every night at a Bogart Film Festival until their Casablanca-esque idyll is cut short by his other secret passion: burglary. When he’s hired to pilfer a portfolio of valuable documents from a Park Avenue apartment, Bernie can hardly refuse. But the occupant’s early return forces Bernie to flee empty-handed and he soon finds himself implicated in a murder. Before you can say "who stole the strawberries?" he’s hunting for a killer, up to his neck in the outrageous intrigues of a tiny Balkan nation . . . and menaced by more sinister fat men and unsavory toadies than the great Bogie himself butted heads with in pursuit of that darn bird!
8. The Burglar in the Library (1997).
Bookseller and New-Yorker-to-the-bone, Bernie Rhodenbarr rarely ventures out of Manhattan, but he’s excited about the romantic getaway he has planned for himself and current lady love Lettice at the Cuttleford House, a remote upstate b&b. Unfortunately, Lettice has a prior engagement – she’s getting married . . . and not to Bernie so he decides to take best buddy Carolyn instead. A restful respite from the big city’s bustle would be too good to waste. Besides, there’s a very valuable first edition shelved in the Cuttleford’s library that Bernie’s just itching to get his hands on. Did we neglect to mention that Bernie’s a burglar? But first he’s got to get around a very dead body on the library floor. The plot’s thickened by an isolating snowstorm, downed phone lines, the surprise arrival of Lettice and her reprehensible new hubby, and a steadily increasing corpse count. And it’s Bernie who’ll have to figure out whodunit . . . or die.
9. The Burglar in the Rye (1999).
Gulliver Fairborn’s novel, "Nobody’s Baby," changed Bernie Rhodenbarr’s life. And now pretty Alice Cottrell, Fairborn’s one-time paramour, wants the bookselling, book-loving burglar to break into a room in New York’s teeth-achingly charming Paddington Hotel and purloin some of the writer’s very personal letters before an unscrupulous agent can sell them. Here’s an opportunity to use his unique talents in the service of the revered, famously reclusive author. But when Bernie gets there, the agent is dead . . . and Bernie’s wanted for murder. (He "really" hates when that happens ). Perhaps it’s karmic payback; Bernie "did" help himself to a ruby necklace on his way out. (But it "was" lying there. And he "is" a burglar.) Now he’s in even hotter water. And he’ll need to use every trick in the book–maybe going so far as to entice the hermitic Fairborn himself out of seclusion–to bring this increasingly twisted plot to a satisfying denouement.
10. The Burglar on the Prowl (2004)
A philosophical yet practical gentleman, Bernie Rhodenbarr possesses many admirable qualities: charm, intelligence, sparkling wit, and unwavering loyalty. Of course, he also has this special talent and a taste for life’s finer things. So he’s more than willing to perform some vengeful larceny for a friend — ripping off a smarmy, particularly deserving plastic surgeon — for fun and a very tidy profit. But during a practice run at another address, Bernie’s forced to hide under a bed when the lady of the house returns unexpectedly with the worst kind of blind date in tow. In no time, Bernie’s up to his burgling neck in big trouble. Again. And this time it includes his arrest, no less than four murders, and more outrageous coincidences than any self-preserving felon should ever be required to tie together.
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Book 11. The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons HERE:
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