Lawrence Block: The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams (USA 2015)

From the Publisher:
Bernie Rhodenbarr is actually trying to earn an honest living. It's been an entire year since he's entered anyone's abode illegally to help himself to their valuables. But now an unscrupulous landlord's threat to increase Bernie's rent by 1,000% is driving the bookseller and reformed burglar back to a life of crime -- though, in all fairness, it's a very short trip. And when the cops wrongly accuse him of stealing a priceless collection of baseball cards, Bernie's stuck with a worthless alibi since he was busy burgling a different apartment at the time . . . one that happened to contain a dead body locked inside a bathroom.

So Bernie has a dilemma. He can trade a burglary charge for a murder rap. Or he can shuffle all the cards himself and try to find the joker in the deck -- someone, perhaps, who believes that homicide is the real Great American Pastime.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams. Bernie Rhodenbarr #6. LB Productions ISBN: 9781513081465 (May, 2015), 0.49 MB (ca. 384 p.), $5.99 (?).

Lawrence Block: The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams (USA 2005)

From the Publisher:
Bernie Rhodenbarr is actually trying to earn an honest living. It's been an entire year since he's entered anyone's abode illegally to help himself to their valuables. But now an unscrupulous landlord's threat to increase Bernie's rent by 1,000% is driving the bookseller and reformed burglar back to a life of crime -- though, in all fairness, it's a very short trip. And when the cops wrongly accuse him of stealing a priceless collection of baseball cards, Bernie's stuck with a worthless alibi since he was busy burgling a different apartment at the time... one that happened to contain a dead body locked inside a bathroom. So Bernie has a dilemma. He can trade a burglary charge for a murder rap. Or he can shuffle all the cards himself and try to find the joker in the deck -- someone, perhaps, who believes that homicide is the real Great American Pastime.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams. A Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery. HarperCollins; ISBN: 0060731443 (October, 2005), 384 p., $7.50..

Lawrence Block: The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams (UK 2002)

From the Publisher:
For nearly a year Bernie Rhodenbarr has gone straight..well of a fashion. But Bernie has a new landlord for his Greenwich Village bookstore - Bernie Stoppelagard - not a nice man, who wants to increase his rent by $10,000... a month! Desperate times call for desperate measures. So Bernie is back to work burgling an apartment of a couple on a European tour of untraceable cash. There is only one problem - the naked man in the bathroom - and the fact that he is deceased. At the same time the apartment of Stoppelgard's brother-in-law has been relieved of a million dollar baseball card collection and somehow Bernie is being blamed (read: framed) for that crime. Mix in a mysterious woman and a crotchety old New York policeman and Bernie seems in big trouble. So what's the answer... Find the baseball cards.... and steal them back.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams. No Exit Press, ISBN: 1842430688 (September, 2002), 352 p., £6.99.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams (UK 1996)

From the Publisher:
For nearly a year Bernie Rhodenbarr has gone straight..well of a fashion. But Bernie has a new landlord for his Greenwich Village bookstore - Bernie Stoppelagard - not a nice man, who wants to increase his rent by $10,000... a month! Desperate times call for desperate measures. So Bernie is back to work burgling an apartment of a couple on a European tour of untraceable cash. There is only one problem - the naked man in the bathroom - and the fact that he is deceased. At the same time the apartment of Stoppelgard's brother-in-law has been relieved of a million dollar baseball card collection and somehow Bernie is being blamed (read: framed) for that crime. Mix in a mysterious woman and a crotchety old New York policeman and Bernie seems in big trouble. So what's the answer... Find the baseball cards.... and steal them back.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams. No Exit Press, ISBN: 1874061475 (July, 1996), 352 p., £5.99.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams (USA 1995)

From the Publisher:
Bernie Rhodenbarr is trying to make an honest living, but when his new landlord raises the rent to an astronomical sum, there's only one thing left for a reformed burglar to do.

On his first night back on the job, Bernie finds not only a stash of cash but a very dead body. Yet the next day the police are blaming him for a different burglary, and what's missing is a valuable baseball card collection.

To prove himself "innocent," Bernie's got to put out all his master skills: picking locks and picking brains, to uncover a scheme he should have been smart enough to avoid, or at least get a piece of...

Lawrence Block: The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams. A Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery. Onyx Books, ISBN: 0451184262 (June, 1995), 372 p., $5.99.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams (USA 1994)

From the Publisher:
Since we last saw burglar-cum-bookseller Bernie Rhodenbarr - some ten years ago - his creator, Lawrence Block, has gone on to become one of the most respected names in crime fiction. His Matthew Scudder series has won numerous awards, as well as the highest praise from both critics and readers alike. So, how does an author top all that success? By bringing back that infamous burglar, Bernie Rhodenbarr, to burgle once again.

Just to update you on Bernie. For nearly a year he's walked the straight and narrow and has coaxed his secondhand bookstore in New York's Greenwich Village into turning a small profit. He's even allowed a cat to move in, and struggled with nocturnal retirement. Then Borden Stoppelgard comes into Bernie's life. Not a nice man. Borden is Bernie's new landlord, and wants to increase the rent by ten thousand dollars - a month! Desperate times call for desperate measures.

By chance, or so it seems, Bernie discovers a West Side apartment whose occupants are in Europe, slips inside with his usual finesse, lifts a large sum of untraceable cash with his usual aplomb, and spots a naked dead man in the bathtub. Now, across town another burglary has taken place - at Stoppelgard's brother-in-law's apartment - and what's missing is a million-dollar baseball card collection. Somehow Bernie's been blamed (read: framed) for that crime.

Toss in a mysterious woman and a crotchety New York police detective to Bernie's troubles, then mix well for a burglar in big trouble. What's the best way out? Why, to find the baseball cards and steal them back, of course. In The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams, Lawrence Block once again gives us a riveting story and shows us a great time. It's crimefiction with a laugh track. And while he may be older, he may be wiser, and certainly more skillful, thank goodness he's still a bad boy at heart. Bernie, too. Reason enough for fans to rejoice.

Lawrence Block: The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams. A Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery. Dutton, ISBN: 0525938079 (May, 1994), 258 p., $19.95.