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The Burglar in the Library by Lawrence Block
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The Burglar in the Library (original 1997; edition 2007)

by Lawrence Block

Series: Bernie Rhodenbarr (8)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
8672124,689 (3.75)38
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.… (more)
Member:fundevogel
Title:The Burglar in the Library
Authors:Lawrence Block
Info:HarperCollins e-books (2007), Kindle Edition, 400 pages
Collections:FIC, Finished, Read but unowned (inactive)
Rating:****
Tags:Mystery

Work Information

The Burglar in the Library by Lawrence Block (1997)

1990s (124)
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English (20)  Hungarian (1)  All languages (21)
Showing 1-5 of 20 (next | show all)
After his girlfriend announces she's getting married to another man, Bernie takes off to an English Style country house with Carolyn to lick his wounds in searching for a Raymond Chandler book rumoured to be personally inscribed to Dashell Hammett.

It's the winter, in the middle of nowhere, and the snow is coming in thick and fast. The last thing anyone needs is to realise they are trapped with no chance of escape with a killer on the loose.

Medium length book (most of Block's books come in at under 300 pages, this is just over), and it has all the usual witty conversations and one liners between Bernie and Carolyn. Some of the secondary characters were not particularly 3 Dimensional - only one of the murder victims actually got to say anything, but do you really ever talk to everyone when on holiday?

There is a precocious child, and I have a vague feeling that this has been used before as a technique in a previous book, but I could be mistaken.

Anyway, once again, a Rhoddenbarr book that I enjoyed. ( )
  nordie | Oct 14, 2023 |
Not the best Burglar story, the mystery was too convoluted. However, I like the guy so what can I say? ( )
  JudyGibson | Jan 26, 2023 |
I like the Bernie the Burglar series, but this one got pretty convoluted in the solution. ( )
  therestlessmouse | Jun 11, 2021 |
Of the three Bernie the Burglar books I've read, this is the daftest - and best! And best because daftest. Block's deliberate send-up of the country house mystery genre is silly, funny and unsurprisingly involves corpses piling up in a place Bernie is trying to steal from... ( )
  Arbieroo | Jul 17, 2020 |
4.5* for this audiobook edition which has a marvelous narration by Richard Ferrone.

Bernie has his very own English country house murder to solve when he and Carolyn are snowed in at an inn in the Berkshires - or is it a Raymond Chandler story instead? Such a fun book for any fan of classic mysteries! ( )
  leslie.98 | Sep 7, 2019 |
Showing 1-5 of 20 (next | show all)
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For Peter Straub
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At three in the afternoon on the first Thursday in March, I got Barnegat Books settled in for the weekend.
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…this isn’t a cozy little English murder case at all, it’s tough and hardboiled and it’s not going to be solved by pussyfooting around like Miss Jane Marple or Lord Peter Wimsey. This is Philip Marlowe’s kind of caper.
"Darling, that was so well said that I only wish it weren't ridiculous."
...I'll spare you the fits and starts in which she told her story, along with the exclamation points that! accented! virtually! every! word! of it.
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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.

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