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 … 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.
Now he’s really got his hands full, having to locate the true perpetrator while somehow eluding the police — a dirty job indeed, but if Bernie doesn’t do it, who will?
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I’m a little late with this. “Little” in that this delightful novel was first published in 1977. Lawrence Block, a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, with more than 100 books to his credit, created a masterful character in Bernie Rhodenbarr, a gentleman burglar in 1970’s New York. (No cell phones!) Bernie gets framed for a murder, and …
Another Bernie “the burglar” Rhodenbarr winner from Lawrence Block. Block’s writing is smooth, easy to read, always delivers a great puzzle (typically a murder) and he never fails to include surprise splashes of great laugh-out-loud words, expressions and descriptions. Here, poor Bernie is duped into using his superb B&E skills to ostensibly steal …
Enjoyable mystery with New York local color from the mid 1970s.
The Burlar series by Lawrence Block is just plain fun. I recommend them to anyone who needs to laugh
Quick and amusing read. In this first book in a series about a gentleman burglar, Bernie gets caught mid-heist by two cops. The cops find a still-warm body in the back room and Bernie makes a run for it, knowing he’ll be blamed. He realizes he was set up, but why? On the lam, he can’t return to his apartment and squats in the apartment of an …
Love the whole series.
I read the whole Burglar series years ago, but still remember them all as witty, funny, and with a great main character. Bernie is basically a smart, good guy, who just happens to steal for a living. Fun, quick, easy reading entertainment.
Lawrence Block may be better-known for the Matt Scudder mysteries, but his Bernie Rhodenbarr series is also good.
The Bernie books are lighter, much more cozy than hard-boiled. Our hero usually finds a dead body while burgling, and the rest of the story is Bernie getting himself out of the soup.
If you like lighter crime fiction with ample …
It was a different kind of plot, refreshing.
This is the first in this very entertaining series and by now has grown a few whiskers . But it introduces a great fictional character, the author’s Bernie Rhodenbarr. I was once actually robbed. There’s nothing funny about someone coming into your home and taking precious things away from you. Even so, Bernie is an amusing guy. In this inaugural …
Read this year’s ago and enjoyed the whole mystery of it.
Lawrence Block always delivers a readable entertaining novel
Compared to Block’s Matt Scudder books, the Bernie books are very weak. Bernie takes some very small facts and “poof”, he has the complete picture. Not very believable, but a “Bernie book” once in a while is ok.
I like all of Lawrence Block’s “Burglar” books. Very entertaining and fun to read. Bernie is a great character.
Love the humor of this author
Ok, fast-paced read but felt dated but not in a charming way.
Very convoluted plot – unnecessarily so. Main character was amusing.