The Burglar in the Rye (Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery) (Paperback)

by Lawrence Block (Author) "The lobby was a bit the worse for wear..." (more)
Key Phrases: toothpick fish, clay factory, purple envelope, Anthea Landau, Gulliver Fairborn, Karen Kassenmeier (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Lawrence Block is such a gifted writer that even a native New Yorker will be fooled into thinking that the Paddington Hotel, described in the opening pages of Burglar in the Rye, is a real institution. Block's descriptions of this enclave of artists, writers, and rock musicians is thoroughly convincing--although in actuality, the Paddington is a combination of the real-life Chelsea Hotel and Block's outrageous imagination.

This is Bernie Rhodenbarr's ninth heist. Bernie is a gentleman burglar who runs a used bookstore in between criminal acts, steals mostly from the rich, and only hurts people when it becomes absolutely necessary.

The Paddington is where Bernie goes to liberate the letters of a reclusive writer named Gulliver Fairborn from a literary agent. Fairborn's resemblance to J.D. Salinger and, of course, the fact that the woman who hired Bernie to steal the letters had an affair with Fairborn when she was a teenager, no doubt lend the book its title. But by the time Bernie gets to the Paddington, the agent has been shot, the letters already liberated--and a cop in the lobby recognizes our favorite burglar from a previous encounter.

Now all Bernie has to do is find out who else wanted those letters badly enough to kill for them. In typical Rhodenbarr tradition, the plot is less interesting than the trappings: the books Bernie reads, the fascinating objects he picks up along the way. The reader also learns about some mind-expanding facts, such as the existence of a tiny South American fish that swims up a man's urine stream and lodges in his private parts! Or did Block make that up, too?

Other Bernie picks include: The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar in the Library, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, and The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza. --Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Block's addictive series about bookseller/burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr (The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian, etc.) continues as our hero invades the hotel suite of an aged literary agent in search of a cache of letters, by a respected and reclusive writer, that are wanted by people both legitimate and not. As he usually does, Bernie finds a corpse on the other side of the locked door he so neatly opens, and he is immediately suspected of murder by his nemesis, sticky-fingered Ray Kirschmann of the NYPD. More murder ensues before Bernie, with the help of his lesbian buddy Carolyn, can get a handle on the proceedings. But when he does, and has gathered all the principals into a room for the inevitable explanatory/accusatory windup ("I suppose you're wondering why I summoned you all here," he gets to say, to his and the reader's delight, time and again), he hits on a solution that fingers a most unlikely suspect, satisfies all the claimants to the letters and leaves him (and Ray) richer. Block's effortless mastery of his material, his relaxed ease, are as pleasurable as always, and he has some splendid fun with an author not unlike J.D. Salinger. This is the prolific Block's only new novel of the year, and it's a steal at any price. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: No Exit Press (March 10, 2000)
• ISBN-10: 1901982637
• ISBN-13: 978-1901982633
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,417,058 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The books one hates to love, May 12, 2000

By	Doug Vaughn (Washington, Dc USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Burglar in the Rye: The New Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery (Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries) (Paperback)

I really, really, really tried to not like Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr series. It represents a genre that I usually have no patience for, the comic mystery. I automatically want to dismiss these books as fluf and a waste of time. Yet Block is such a great writer that he can take this formula - a combination of Charlie Chan and Nick and Nora Charles 30's movie conventions - and create contemporary entertainments that work DESPITE the artifical conventions (getting all the usual suspects together at the climax of the story to reveal the murderer), the predictable plot elements (Bernie stumbling onto a body and being wrongly accused of murder), the exaggerated character types (the suspicious half-corrupt cop, the neurotic, lesbian friend etc) and the totally implausible story line. He does this effortlessly by spinning such a bright, charming screen of words that the reader is willing to relax and just go along, knowing that every digression will prove its own reward. Puns, literary allusions, jokes, embedded quotes and every kind of fine verbal slight-of-hand a writer could practice on the reader is used by Block to breath life into the old formula. It works. The reader is quickly seduced by these books and never cares that they are ultimately unbelievable, because they are so much fun.

In The Burgler in the Rye, Bernie Rhodenbarr, burgler and antiquarian bookseller, is asked to recover the letters written to a reclusive literary agent by her even more reclusive main author Gulliver Fairborn (inspired, it seems, by phantom author J.D. Salinger). But lots of people want those letters, and when Bernie's B&E job doesn't find the letters but does uncover a very dead literary agent, the reader knows what is going to happen. How Bernie manages to extricate himself from a charge or murder, take care of several subplots and try to make a profit for himself provides Block plenty of latitude for creative imagination and convenient coincidence. The conclusion is the most convoluted in all the Burgler books I have read, but fun nevertheless. After all, nothing has been really true to life before it, so why fret at the end?

One last word. The dialogue in these books is, I think, more entertaining than in any other series. The running conversations in this one between Bernie and his lesbian, dog-grooming friend Carolyn about whether she is becoming too feminine are really hysterical. This is really fun reading.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Good Book by Block, July 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Burglar in the Rye: The New Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery (Hardcover)

Lawrence Block does it, again. This was an Amazon recommendation that hits the mark! I have read all the other "Burglar" books and enjoyed them all. Although I saw alot of the plot coming, Block surprised me with who the killer was...I never guessed this one. This is an enjoyable book with Block's loveable burglar: Bernie Rhodenbarr, friend Carolyn the dog groomer & Ray, the cop. He even brings back Marty from ---Ted Williams. Bernie once, again, brings the suspects together at the scene of the crime (a la Agatha Christies Poirot & Miss Marple) and explains "whodunit" and how. As usual, Bernie makes out like a bandit. Lawrence Block always satisfies with every novel and never misses a beat. Buy, read it, loan it to someone else. If you haven't read Block before, read this one. If you have read his other works...do not miss this one.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rhodenbarr's rousing return, June 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Burglar in the Rye: The New Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery (Hardcover)

Renowned writer Gulliver Fairburn is irate to learn that his former agent Anthea Landau is selling their correspondence on the auction block. Gully relishes his privacy even though his first novel haunted every teen who ever read it. Gully's former lover Alice Cottrell turns to book store owner and thief Bernie Rhodenbarr to steal the letters before they go on sale.

Bernie easily breaks into Anthea's hotel room, only to find her murdered body waiting for him. Bernie flees down the fire escape just ahead of the police, but in time to purloin another guest's necklace. NYPD officer Ray Kirschmann suspects the part time burglar killed Anthea, leaving it up to Bernie to prove otherwise or find a way to insure the cop turns a profit.

The ninth Rhodenbarr mystery is as delightful and refreshing as all the others in the series are. The story line is entertaining as Bernie returns to his favorite profession only to find a corpse on the other side of the locked door he enters. It's not so subtle that only a blockhead would miss the novel's obvious humor and homage to Salinger. Lawrence Block demonstrates why this is one of the most popular series on the market in the past decade.

Harriet Klausner