The exploits of Lawrence Block’s gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr have entertained us from his debut in 1977 in Burglars Can't Be Choosers right on through the tenth book in the series published in 2004, The Burglar on the Prowl.
By day, Bernie is the proprietor of Barnegat Books, a used bookstore in Greenwich. He has a cat named Raffles, named after the E.W. Hornung character.
According to Block, one of the reasons Bernie operates the bookstore is "to meet girls."
Block provides us with a convenient list of the titles on his website.
At a recent appearance at the library, the devious Mr. Block unfortunately could not – or would not! – tell us how soon we could expect another Bernie caper.
Next Sunday, August 17th at 2 p.m. the Usual Suspects Mystery Reading Group will be discussing The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams, book number six, published in 1994.
Bernie has actually been trying to earn an honest living but an unscrupulous landlord's threat to increase Bernie's rent by 1,000% is driving him back to a life of crime. When the cops wrongly accuse him of stealing a $1 million baseball card collection, Bernie cannot alibi himself since he was busy burgling a different apartment at the time . . . one that happened to contain a dead body locked inside a bathroom.
Hope you can join us on Sunday. New faces are always welcome. To reserve a copy of the book call 291-4821.
If mysteries with book store owner detectives are your cup of tea, don’t miss the John Dunning Cliff Janeway mysteries, the Joan Hess Clare Malloy mysteries or the Carolyn Hart Death on Demand series.
If you are looking for a more thorough list of “biblio-mysteries” – featuring authors, book store owners, librarians, publishers, etc. – you can check our catalog under the heading Bibliophile mysteries.
You can also check the Looking for a Mystery? site for bibliographies of all sorts of mystery themes.
If you want to keep ‘em cozy, then cozy-mystery.com is the place for you.
