Lawrence Block: The Burglar in the Library (USA 2007)

From the Publisher:
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.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar in the Library. The New Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery. Signet, ISBN: 006087287X (March, 2007), 304 p., $7.99.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar in the Library (USA 1998)

From the Publisher:
Bernie Rhodenbarr, burglar extroordinaire and bookseller ordinaire, has left New York City to spend a wintry weekend at a cozy New England inn faimed for its quaint atmosphere and, not coincidentally, its rare books. And there is no book rarer than the one tucked away in the Cuttleford House library: a first edition of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, inscribed to lDashiell Hammett, no less. For Bernie, an irresistible treasure is only a light finger away.

That's before a dead body turns up in the library... before Bernie's two-timing girlfriend arrives with her new husband... and before a sudden storm leaves everyone snowbound. Then -- lo and behold -- the book disappears. That's when Bernie decides to make his move. Because for Bernie Rhodenbarr, finding the priceless stolen volume is second only to finding a killer who may also be, heaven help him -- or her -- a thief.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar in the Library. The New Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery. Signet, ISBN: 0451407830 (June, 1998), 368 p., $6.99.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar in the Library (UK 1998)

From the Publisher:
What's Bernie Rhodenbarr doing in the country? He is a New York kind of guy, an urbane antiquarian bookseller who moonlights as a buttoned down burglar. Until an impossibly rare Raymond Chandler novel dedicated to Dashiell Hammett lures him and his buddy, Carolyn, from their own turf to the hills of Western Massachusetts. Before they knows it, they're smack in the middle of Agatha Christie country and you know what that means. A classic English country house. A guest list awash in eccentricity. And the snow keeps falling. And the bridge is out. And the phone lines are cut. And, one by one, somebody's killing off the guests. And... shhhh! There's a burglar in the library!

Lawrence Block: The Burglar in the Library. The brandnew Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery. No Exit Press, ISBN: 1901982092 (April, 1998), 352 p., £5.99.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar in the Library (USA 1997)

From the Publisher:
What do you get when you combine an English-style inn, a group of snowbound guests, and a dead body in the library? While this sounds like the ingredients for an Agatha Christie murder mystery, it's actually Lawrence Block's wickedly funny, wonderfully suspenseful new Bernie Rhodenbarr caper, The Burglar in the Library.

Bernie Rhodenbarr, burglar extraordinaire and bookseller ordinaire, has taken leave of his beloved New York City and gone country. That is, to the New England countryside. Our setting is Cuttleford House, a quaint, lovely inn, where Carolyn and Raffles the Cat have joined Bernie for a wintry weekend. Of course, Carolyn wasn't Bernie's first choice for a romantic getaway weekend, but his intended, Lettice Runcible, turned out to be someone else's intended.

But if you think Bernie's sole purpose is healing his wounded heart, think again. As a bookseller, Bernie's always in search of a valuable edition, and this time he believes he's found it, a rare first edition of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, and it's autographed to, of all people, Dashiell Hammett. And it's somewhere in Cuttleford House's largely ignored library. During his nightly prowl, Bernie finds unexpected company in the way of a corpse.

The next morning everyone else finds the body, too. Making matters worse is the fact that all of the guests -- including, (surprise!) Lettice and her new husband, Dakin Littlefield -- find themselves snowbound after a particularly fierce storm during the night. With everyone pointing fingers at everyone else, Bernie decides he's got to catch the culprit -- before there's another murder. Isn't there always? And let's not forget that book, which has mysteriously disappeared off the library shelves.

The Burglar in the Library is arguably the best entry in this already remarkable series and should secure Lawrence Block's reputation as our finest -- and funniest -- mystery writer working today. Because if Bernie Rhodenbarr can't warm your heart, you may just have to settle for some of Cuttleford House's tea. Which, of course, could be poisoned. You decide.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar in the Library. The New Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery. Dutton, ISBN: 0525943013 (July, 1997), 342 p., $23.95.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar in the Library (UK 1997)

From the Publisher:
Bernie Rhodenbarr, burglar extraordinaire and bookseller ordinaire has taken leave of his beloved New York City and gone country. That is, to the New England countryside. Our setting is Cuttleford House, a delightful, English-style inn, where Carolyn and Raffles the Cat have joined Bernie for a wintery weekend. Of course, Carolyn wasn't Bernie's first choice for a romantic weekend, but his intended, Lettice Runcible, turned out to be someone else's intended.

But if you think Bernie's sole purpose is healing his wounded heart, then think again. As a bookseller, Bernie's always in search of a valuable edition, and this time he believes he's found it - a rare first edition of Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep", and it's autographed to, of all people, Dashiell Hammett. And it's somewhere in Cuttleford House's library. During his nightly prowl, Bernie finds unexpected company in the form of a corpse. The next morning everyone else finds the body too. Making matters worse is the fact that all of the guests - including (surprise!) Lettice and her new husband, Dakin Littlefield - find themselves snowbound after a fierce storm during the night. With everyone pointing fingers at everyone else, Bernie decides he's got to catch the culprit - before there's another murder. Isn't there always? And let's not forget that book, which has mysteriously disappeared off the library shelves.

The Burglar in the Library is arguably the best in this already remarkable series, securing Lawrence Block's reputation as the finest -and funniest - mystery writer working today.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar in the Library. The brandnew Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery. No Exit Press, ISBN: 1874061815 (May, 1997), 342 p., £16.99.