Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #416655 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-01
• Released on: 2007-02-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 400 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780060872878
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
Bernie, if you recall, is that likeable young New Yorker who has tempered his passion for stealing classy works of art with the more staid vocation of selling books. But his passion always reigns. In this eighth Bernie Rhodenbarr caper, author Lawrence Block mimics the murderer's M.O. in Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None while preserving the premise of the Burglar series. Bernie bursts in on someone else's wrongdoing before he gets to have any fun. All he wants is to make off with a Raymond Chandler first edition, but instead, red-handed, he stumbles on foul play. Lots of amusing send-ups of the genre's older conventions, particularly those oft-employed twists of dame Christie.

From Library Journal
Book thief Bernie Rhodenbarr has his work cut out for him when, in the wake of a paralyzing winter storm, a body is discovered in the library of a bed-and-breakfast.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
All princely burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr wanted was to steal off to the Berkshires for a romantic weekend with Lettice Runcible at the oh-so-English Cuttleford House, then to go home with a rumored Cuttleford book--a copy of The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler inscribed to Dashiell Hammett--that wasn't his. But things don't exactly work out that way. First off, Lettice announces that she can't go because she's getting married that weekend, and when Bernie handsomely adapts by bringing his platonic chum Carolyn Kaiser along instead, who should complete the fanciful assortment of guests at Cuttleford House but Lettice and her bridegroom? As for the library that Bernie hopes to plunder, it's got more foot traffic than the Library of Congress, even before the discovery of a guest's cooling corpse makes it the center of attention. The sedate country-house setting, the general jollity (the grue is leavened by a precocious ten-year- old and the casual slaughters of several victims who barely have names, much less faces), and, above all, the body-in-the-library scream Agatha Christie, but the killer's model seems to be Christie's darkest novel: And Then There Were None. The cut phone lines, the sabotaged snowblower, the ruined bridge to the outside world--all these retro trappings climax in a denouement (in the library, naturally) that must be one of the most deliriously overextended in the history of the genre. Bernie, evidently recovered from his most recent folly (The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart, 1995), has a fine time mocking the conventions of Christie's bygone age. Fans who don't insist on plotting as tight as Christie's will enjoy themselves just as much as if it were her. (Mystery Guild selection; author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

best Christie send-up ever
This is one of the best in Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr series.

"The Burglar in the Library" is one part Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" (a.k.a. "The Ten Little Indians"), one part Christie's "The Body in the Library" and one part Dashiell Hammett's "The Thin Man," with Bernie and Carolyn Kaiser pairing up as a platonic Nick and Nora Charles. All of the Rhodenbarr books are pretty funny, but this one is also a loving take on the English house murders that Dame Agatha Christie made famous.

Usually, these near-parodies aren't as kind to their inspiration. But "The Burglar in the Library" makes you want to rush out and re-read a Miss Marple mystery.

This book is such a departure from the Rhodenbarr books, which are as brash and hip as their New York City setting. I wonder how many years Block has yearned to produce his own genteel English mystery? I'm glad he decided to scratch that particular itch.

It's an excellent book. The true test of a mystery is if you enjoy it when you re-read, when you already know "who done it." This book passes the test with flying colors: I've read it twice, and I'm sure I'll be reading it again.

As with all the Rhodenbarr books, Block fills it with tons of book and other trivia. I'd never read any Hammett or Chandler (who figure prominently in this book), but Block prompted me to correct that, too.

A Mystery Buffs Dream Weekend
This is a tribute to Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler, all rolled into one neat murder mystery. Bernie and Carolyn spend the weekend in a New England guesthouse, which attempts to replicate an authentic old English manor. When guests begin showing up murdered, it's Bernie who plays the part of Hercule Poirot or, if you like, Philip Marlowe, as he gathers the clues, which will hopefully lead him to the murderer before too many more guests are knocked off. Being a guesthouse, there are suspects aplenty delivering us ample opportunity to figure out the mystery ourselves. If mystery fans will be delighted by this book, then fans of the British crime story will be even more so. Combining the wit and humour of Lawrence Block with the traditional murder mystery creates a deadly weekend, though presented in a light and breezy manner.

Enjoyable read
This is the 3rd Bernie Rhodenbarr book I have read, and I enjoyed it the most out of the bunch. I read the Burglar in the Closet, which disappointed me by having an extremely predictable ending, and I read the Burglar who Traded Ted Williams which was a middle of the road mystery. What kept me coming back was that I thought the character of Bernie Rhodenbarr was likable and the stories flow and end up being a quick read.

I thought that this story was intriguing and the ending is not readily predictable. This story and its characters are well developed and it keeps you interested throughout. For mystery lovers the references to Hammett, Chandler, and the Christie comparison of the story prove to be an extra treat. Even if you are not familiar with those writers it doesn't detract from the story and the book should still prove to be enjoyable.

So whether you have or haven't read Lawrence Block before, this one is worth picking up.