Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
The Burglar in the Rye
Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Lawrence Block
Class/Genre: Mystery
Series: Bernie Rhodenbarr # 9
Dutton, Jul 1999, $23.95, 280 pp.
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
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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