"Of all the bookstores in all the towns in all the world, she walked into mine."

Bernie Rhodenbarr is a thief always on the lookout for opportunity. For his cover, he runs a respectable bookstore and keeps Raffles, the store cat, company. One day a beautiful dame walks into Bernie's store and before he knows it they're sharing popcorn over a Bogart double-feature. But she's no angel and suddenly the plot lines of Bogie's films and Bernie's life seem to merge. All the usual suspects seem to be involved - can Bernie figure it out and keep his nose clean?

Bogart films are a particular passion of mine, I've watched 46 of them so far. A few weeks ago, in a particularly brilliant moment of LT kismet, this book title came up on my screen. Of course I saw the 'Bogart' part, but when I read 'bookstore', well, that sealed the deal. I had to read it immediately.

This book is a loving pastiche of the plots from Bogart films like The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca and The Big Sleep. Block did a good job of making it feel hardboiled without actually being hardboiled. He hits all the right notes and you understand immediately which character is meant to emulate a well-loved favorite.

It didn't earn 4 or 5 stars from me because it had a bit more politics in it than I care for. It's still a solid tale for any mystery reader, and an especially lovely romp for fans of Bogie. ( )

I wish I had the time to watch every Bogart movie referenced in this book. This cries out for a "new media" treatment!

Good stuff, but not the best "Burglar" or Block.

What's not to love about Bernie Rhodenbarr, the burglar/Greenwich Village bookseller in Lawrence Block's "Burglar" novels? All of these books are outrageously funny, with twisty, suspenseful mysteries played out by wonderfully eccentric characters.

This time Bernie is swept off his feet by a gorgeous foreigner who comes into his store. They discover a shared passion for Humphrey Bogart movies and are soon meeting each night at a Bogart film festival. There's more to Ilona than meets the eye, however, as Bernie discovers after he retrieves a portfolio from a locked apartment for another customer. His client turns up dead, and so does one of the client's partners. Suddenly Bernie's entangled in a bizarre mystery involving exiles from a never-never land in Europe, retired CIA men and what may be a fortune in ancient bearer bonds.