5 comments about The Burglar in the Library: A Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery.

1. Lawrence Block is one of our most talented mystery authors. In the Bernie Rhodenbarr series he explores how an ordinary, but intelligent, "honest" person might go about pursuing a life of crime as a fastidious and talented burglar who isn't proud of what he does, doesn't like to hang out with criminals, and really gets a big thrill out of breaking and entering . . . and removing nonessential valuables from rich people. As you can see, there's a sitcom set-up to provide lots of humor. But the humor works well in part because Mr. Block is able to put the reader in the Bernie's shoes while he breaks, enters and steals . . . and evades the long arm of the law. To balance the "honest" burglar is an array of "dishonest" and equally easy-money loving cops. As a result, you're in a funny moral never-never land while your stomach tightens and your arm muscles twitch as tension builds. To make matters even more topsy-turvy, Bernie at some point in every story turns into an investigator who must figure out "who-dun-it" for some crime that he personally didn't do. It's almost like one of those "mystery at home" games where the victim comes back as the police investigator, playing two roles. Very nice!

   So much for explaining the concept of the series. The Burglar in the Library is the eighth book in the series. I strongly suggest that you begin the series by reading Burglars Can't Be Choosers and follow it up with The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian, The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams and The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart. Each story in the series adds information and characters in a way that will reduce your pleasure of the others if read out of order. Despite that admonition, I originally read them out of order and liked them well enough. I'm rereading them now in order, and like it much better this way. The Burglar in the Rye comes next in the series.

   The series, always comical and satirical, continues the new turn begun in The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart. The spoof expands to the detective/thriller genre in general. I found this change to be a welcome and charming one. Anyone who is an Agatha Christie fan will appreciate the many references to And Then There Were None.

   And Then There Were None was my favorite mystery for many years. I loved the way that there seemed to be no solution . . . until the solution miraculously appeared from an unexpected direction. And that was before I knew what a red herring is in a mystery book. Although not duplicating all elements of Dame Agatha's masterpiece, you will find enough reflections to keep you entertained and more than normally amused.

   Another delightful element is that parts of the book relate to Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. In truly spoofish fun, those parts of the story reflect the characterizations and style of those two great mystery writers.

   Bernie has once again fallen in love, with one Lettice Runcible by name, who adores anything English, even if it is an English country house set in New England. Bernie has arranged to take her to Cuttleford House (which fits that description) to enjoy the atmosphere, while he checks out the chance that a rare first edition of The Big Sleep resides there unappreciated by the current owners. He plans are desperately derailed when Lettice announces she cannot go because she's getting married instead. Crestfallen, but still curious about the Raymond Chandler volume, Bernie persuades Carolyn Kaiser, his lesbian best friend, to accompany Raffles, the cat, and him. Added to the usual humor between Bernie and Carolyn are the complications of being bed mates and others assuming that they are either married or lovers.

   On the way to Cuttleford House, a huge snowstorm sets in that makes travel difficult. Bernie soon begins discovering unexpected dead and live bodies while he tries to check out the library in the wee hours of the night. By the next morning, they are cut off by the storm . . . and the bodies begin to pile up. With no way to reach the police, Bernie had better get to the bottom of what's going on . . . or he may be next!

   The mystery is masterfully complicated and rewarding, for those who care about that aspect of the book.

   When I finished this one, I was sure that I had found the best book in the Bernie Rhodenbarr series . . . and I still feel that way. This book is amazingly wonderful.

   The theme of this book focuses on the importance (and challenges involved in) treating other people with respect, kindness and consideration. Beware: Bad things happen when we do not!

   Donald Mitchell
   Co-author of The 2,000 Percent Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage




2. While sometimes some of the entries in Lawrence Block's Burglar series can be a bit formulaic (some of the scenes are virtual repeats, at times), this one is a parody of other authors' prior, classic mystery works. Block's characters are simply a riot. The plot has a few flaws, but the emphasis here is on comic mystery not purity. So, if you are looking for a hard boiled or serious mystery, read Block's Scudder series or an Agatha Christie. There is fun in this book and two great quotes for my collection: "Whenever a politician answers a question that you haven't asked, he's lying" on page 282; and "I don't know who picked you to be the head wallaby in this kangaroo court" on page 303. However, this is not, IMHO, his best Burglar/Rhodenbarr book. Try "The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams" or "The Burglar in the Closet." Still, I'd recommend reading them all as light entertainment, somewhat similar to Block's Tanner/pseudo-spy series.



3. Lawrence Block is a very good writer, usually. This "mystery" is chockablock with padded dialog that often seems to go on endlessly and to no purpose. And, to top it off, the "mystery" ends on a totally unbelievable and silly note.
   
   There were four bodies total, that is people "killed" or otherwise departed from this realm of tears. Three were explained at the end, and the other one was simply left hanging, the explanation being that, well, some things just cannot be explained. Gimme a break.
   
   That, on top of the bloated dialog, makes this one of Block's lesser efforts, to put it mildly.



4. Let me start by saying this is my first Bernie the Burglar series, but my mother loves them through and through. I must say I agree. Bernie is a burglar, only he runs a bookstore just to seem respectable. But he has a burning passion for breaking and entering, which he fulfills frequently. So when he visits an English townhouse, which possibly contains a very expensive book. But before he can do a thing about pilfering it, someone winds up dead. Great.
   This book is not only funny; it is a well plotted mystery. Not long, but still meaty, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the one flaw the fact Block doesn't tie up every loose end, which irritated me, but that's about it.



5. Very good character in the lead of a very well writing plot. As a Mathew Scudder fan, I change direction to the Bernie Rhodenbar series and found it amazingly pleasant. I intend to read the entire series as well as the whole Lawrence Block's collection. He's the very best in the writing field where he moves.

5 comments about The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart (Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery).

1. If you want a light-hearted mystery full of intellectual stimulation, check out the burglar series. This excellent addition puts our hero into an Eastern European conspiracy to re-carve maps that might not have been settled right after World War I. Bernie is never seriously in danger, and the police are not about to arrest him, but nevertheless, he feels compelled to solve the puzzle, if only for the sake of the the mysterious Ilona. Bernie assembles the suspects into his bookstore for a showdown reminiscent of Nero Wolfe in his top form.



2. Lawrence Block is one of our most talented mystery authors. In the Bernie Rhodenbarr series he explores how an ordinary, but intelligent, "honest" person might go about pursuing a life of crime as a fastidious and talented burglar who isn't proud of what he does, doesn't like to hang out with criminals, and really gets a big thrill out of breaking and entering . . . and removing valuables. As you can see, there's a sitcom set-up to provide lots of humor. But the humor works well in part because Mr. Block is able to put the reader in the Bernie's shoes while he breaks, enters and steals . . . and evades the long arm of the law. To balance the "honest" burglar is an array of "dishonest" and equally easy-money loving cops. As a result, you're in a funny moral never-never land while your stomach tightens and your arm muscles twitch as tension builds. To make matters even more topsy-turvy, Bernie at some point in every story turns into an investigator who must figure out "who-dun-it" for some crime that he personally didn't do. It's almost like one of those "mystery at home" games where the victim comes back as the police investigator, playing two roles. Very nice!

   So much for explaining the concept of the series. The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart is the seventh book in the series. I strongly suggest that you begin the series by reading Burglars Can't Be Choosers and follow it up with The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian and The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams. Each story in the series adds information and characters in a way that will reduce your pleasure of the others if read out of order. Although, I originally read them out of order and liked them well enough. I'm rereading them now in order, and like it much better this way. The Burglar in the Library comes next in the series.

   The series, always comical and satirical, takes a new turn in The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart. The spoof expands to the detective/thriller genre in general. I found this change to be a welcome and charming one. Anyone who is a Bogart fan will appreciate the many references to Bogart movies and famous lines in them.

   My fascination with Bogart began when I was a freshman in college, and a local theater offered a Bogart festival every semester . . . just when students were supposed to be catching up on their reading and getting ready for final exams. For eight semesters, I spent many happy hours seeing the same Bogart movies . . . over and over again. As Bernie spends three weeks at the movies in this book, I felt like I was back in college again watching him.

   Hugo Candlemas comes to Bernie's Barnegat Books and mentions that they have a friend in common, Abel Crowe, a fence who appeared in The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza. They arrange to meet later at Hugo's apartment, where Bernie agrees to lift a portfolio from a desk in another apartment for a minimum of $5,000. The actual caper reprises with slight variations some of the highlights of earlier novels in the series like The Burglar in the Closet and The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian. The story is set against a backdrop of Bernie falling in love with the beautiful and mysterious Ilona, whom he meets every night to watch two Bogart films, share a tub of popcorn, hold hands and then part in separate cabs. The Ilona thread of the story builds off of Casablanca. After Bernie fails to get secure the portfolio, mysterious strangers begin appearing, making offers for the item. This part of the story builds from some of the base of The Maltese Falcon. Watch for Wilmer in a close reference. Throughout, Bernie finds himself drawn to living the role of the classic Bogart hero, uncaring on the surface . . . but with a heart of gold and the mind of an idealist.

   You are not supposed to take this mystery and story too seriously, but it does have a nice "dying clue" element that will intrigue many hard core mystery buffs.
   
   The theme of this book focuses on what is valuable and what is not. Mr. Block comes down soundly on the side of friends, loyalty and love over mere physical possessions. It's his best critique yet of our obsessions with material goods and so-called wealth. After you enjoy this wonderful book, ask yourself where you could have a richer life by putting people ahead of possessions.

   Donald Mitchell
   Co-author of The 2,000 Percent Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage




3. Knowing the writer's very good reputation and popularity as a mystery writer was probably a disadvantage in reading this book. This book was a dissapointment. I soon tired of the device of weaving the Bogart film festival into the far-fetched mystery. Glad when I got to the end. No more Burglar books.



4. I've enjoyed Lawrence Block's writing style for some time, and liked this story greatly. It is very, very helpful to be familiar with the movies of Humphrey Bogart in order to get the most out of this yarn.
   
   The book sort of parodies itself, in a real way. The writing is self-referencing and ironic. Perhaps its most attractive feature, though, is the reader being led to empathize, if not sympathize, with the intrinsic rewards of being a burglar, coupled with a sense that you can get results by operating outside the law which people constrained by legality otherwise would have to suffer through patiently. The descriptions are great, and the characters deliberately overdrawn and exaggerated to make a point.
   
   Very, very enjoyable stuff.



5. This is one of the best of Lawrence Block's gentleman burglar series. A delightful read

5 comments about Hit Man (John Keller Mysteries).

1. I enjoyed Hit Man despite the fact that it lacks the basic elements that make a novel a novel, notably a major conflict, rising action, a climax... some semblance of a plot. Hit Man reads like a collection of short stories (which is apparently what its original format was) but that isn't a terrible thing. They're pretty entertaining short stories.
   
   Since this is a novel without a plot, one might think it's a character study, but that would be an overstatement. Block doesn't offer much insight into the mind and motivation of the killer named Keller. In fact, Keller doesn't change at all as a result of the events in the novel. He doesn't evolve or develop a new perspective or have an epiphany or anything remotely similar. He's basically the same guy at the end of the novel as he was in the beginning.
   
   As a character, Keller is a mass of contradictions. In some instances he seems concerned about justice, going so far as to kill the person who hired him rather than killing the likeable man he was hired to kill. In another instance he doesn't seem the least bit concerned when an innocent couple is inadvertently murdered. He feels badly for dogs confined in cages but has no trouble murdering dozens of people. These contradictions are presumably intended to give the character depth (he isn't a predictable stereo-type) but that isn't much substitute for genuine character development.
   
   The appeal of Hit Man is rooted in its amusing premise (that Keller is just a regular guy with an unusual job). Block writes snappy, entertaining dialogue and he makes Keller, a mass murderer for hire, a pretty likeable guy. Ultimately, it is the improbable likeability of Keller that makes this novel a pleasure to read. It would have been nice if Block had gone to the trouble to develop a plot so that Keller had more to do than buy a dog, collect stamps, go to the movies, and kill a few people.
   
   If you're looking for mystery - you won't find it here. If you're looking for suspense - it's not here either. If you're looking for an insiders glimpse into the mind of a hired killer - you won't find that either. In fact, you won't even find a plot.
   
   What you will find is a likeable character, snappy dialogue, breezy writing and an amusing premise - the Hit Man as a regular guy, just putting in another day at the office.



2. Lawrence Block's Hit Man is an easy and relatively entertaining read. It feels less like a novel and more like a collection of short stories. This isn't surprising, considering Wikipedia states the original format the protagonist, Keller, appeared in was Playboy in the 90's. Each chapter could be taken on its own as they are neatly divided and feature little overlap besides the occasional mention of Keller's father and his childhood pet, a dog named Soldier.
   
   The story had a few funny moments and generally interesting situations, which were interesting to follow along but always seemed to wrap up a bit too quickly. I also enjoyed the realism of Hit Man - the fact that Keller isn't a top-notch shot, that he gets heartburn from good brandy, and that he takes the easy way out instead of the explosive, guns-blazing, Hollywood way.
   
   Keller himself was not a terribly interesting character but nonetheless readable. Some things in the story really detracted from the quality of the overall work, the most prominent example being the patronizing explanation that Keller = Killer if you just swap a vowel. His sadness at the pet shop and the zoo, along with the attachment to Nelson the dog were also peculiar. Keller seems to be on track to something normal and dare I say meaningful with the pet and the girlfriend but anticlimatically informs us that he let them slip away as quickly as they arrived. It seems strange that Lawrence Block included them at all. Whereas I could see Keller as a conflicted, possibly even emotional wreck of man - he just remains in the awkward, overly polite stage of friendship with the reader. Whatever moments of feeling and sympathy he tries to garner seem melodramatic and thrown in just to vary the predicatble pattern of call, flight, drive, plan, kill. Overall, Lawrence Block's Hit Man is a quick, mildly entertaining but ultimately forgettable read.



3. This is not a very good book. It don't have a mistery to be solved, it don't have a plot that take us awake to the last pages. But it have a great writer beyond it. And every time that Lawrence Block writes a book you can believe it will entertain you. It's amazing how he can make a killer such a good character. Sometimes the book becomes dark and you have to stop reading and take a time, because of the way Keller (the killer) faces the death of his targets and how he doesn't feel a thing when it happens for him to kill the wrong ones.
   It's definitely not my king of book, but as an unconditional Block books reader, I recommend this one.



4. The contract killer was really brought to the apex of his literary career in THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, the novel by Frederick Forsyth in which the hired killer is paid to knock off Charles de Gaulle. Since then, our literary conception of the professional who has chosen this career path is of the cool, suave, international ladies man, with fine tastes and an exciting life. Then comes Lawrence Block to put dull back into contract killing.
   
   This is not an insult to the book at all. HIT MAN is actually, if not up to high literary standards, really quite readable and enjoyable. Rather, the dullness is a reflection of the killer himself. Keller, far from mingling at high stakes blackjack tables or carousing at the most exclusive nightclubs, is most happy when upgrading his stamp collection. Far from seeming cold and uncaring, he actually seems like a decent enough chap - when one is not reminded that he kills people for a living.
   
   The strength of HIT MAN is that Lawrence Block does not try to extend the character into a full length book. This collection of short stories allows us to see Keller in action as well as in his home environment, but without necessitating a fuller character development that may stretch a reader's attention span. I would not recommend this book to anyone seeking intellectual stimulation. But for someone looking for some short mind candy to kill the spare moments here and there? Yeah, I would recommend it to him.



5. How this book gets so highly rated is beyond me. While I wasn't expecting literature, I expect a thriller to, well, thrill. No story, no action, no plot and flat, banal characters of little interest. Dialogue too sketchy to fill a Walker-Texas Ranger episode. Other than that, the pointless descriptions of the main character's imaginary conversations with his dog are real page turners--in the sense that you flip pages to skip those sections. This book has no tension, no drama, no conflicts of any kind. Any Jane Austin book is more pulse-pounding than this. The only mystery about it is why anyone would waste their time.

No comments about Great Mystery Series: 11 Of the Best Mystery Short Stories from Alfred Hitchcock's and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazines (Great Mystery Series).

5 comments about The Burglar in the Closet (Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery).

1. If you miss Lawrence Saunders, then meet Lawrence Block. His series reminds me a lot of Saunders' Archy McNally, except that Bernie's on the other side of the law!! But the gist is the same, bachelor, swinger, funny, and always entertaining. In this installment, he steals jewels,which are stolen from him, doesn't kill someone the police think he killed and sleeps with a girlfriend that ain't his. But he puts everything (well, almost everything) back into balance by the end of the story, though he doesn't get the jewels or the girl. A good read, and an entertaining plot that doesn't give itself away until the very end, it will make you want to get the rest of Block's series. Easy going fiction.



2. This was the one that started it all - this series is outstanding.
   
   Lawrence Block must have needed an outlet for his vast knowledge of the whole detective fiction genre. He has used this character, a New York burglar, as the means to roam over the whole territory of mystery fiction, from the "murder in a teacup" school of Agatha Chrstie, to hard-boiled detectives noir, through the "To Catch a Thief" cat-burglar dimension.
   
   Bernie, for his part, is quite unassuming. He's a guy who is just trying to make a living. In fact, in a way he would tell you he's cursed with a compulsion to earn his living by breaking into other people's living spaces and stealing their stuff. It is the act itself that excites him, unfortunately.
   
   If he ever took therapy, like his soulmate John Keller, goodness knows what would come out of it. What sort of analytic theory explains the thrill of a man deftly, gently nudging, poking, and twisting picks in a lock until, with the slightest movement, suddenly the lock yields to his gentle but insistent touch?
   
   Beats the hell out of me.
   
   Bernie's just a regular guy, and he gets sidetracked from his work by once in a while by homicides right in front of him, by his love/hate relationship with a parasitic and corrupt NYPD officer, and but his social obligations to his gay best friend. Their relationship alone sparkles and is well worth the price of admission.
   
   I want to thank my sister for introducing me to Bernie, and for being patient with me while I adopted him slowly.
   
   The richness of this writing is what puts Lawrence Block at the top of the game today. You'll enjoy this - guaranteed.



3. I read this book before I read the first one in the series. It didn't matter much but it does reveal some plot points from the first book and if you want to go into the series blind, I recommend starting with the first, Burglars Can't Be Choosers.
   
   I felt the cement around our favorite thief, Bernie Rhodenbarr, starts to firm up with this book. The character is still being fleshed out and Lawrence Block can take him in a lot of directions from here, if he wants, but an established personality is developing nicely.
   
   The setup and mystery of this book are similar to the first but different enough that you don't feel like you are just reading a rehash. Block can't keep going on this tack without seeming redundant but for now it is fine. And I guess the main reason it works is that the motivation to solve the mystery and the development of the mystery is different in each book.
   
   I'm interested in what happens to Bernie next. I will check out the third book to see where Block leads Bernie and the readers and then I'll decide if it is still worth following. For the moment, I'm willing to join in.



4. A very light whodunnit. Witty, charming and laugh out loud funny.



5. A Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery. Droll mystery is fun, not earthshaking. Perfect traveling companion (I read most of this on an airplane flight from Boston to Raleigh).

5 comments about The Burglar in the Rye (Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries).

1. When they're well done, books about books, and metafiction, and metacinema, and roman-a-clef writing give me great pleasure. ("Bookworm's Delight," right?) Indeed. This particular Bernie Rhodenbarr book--and, I surmise, the series in general--works at two levels, at least: as a rather straightforward genre whodunnit, but one infused with Block's clever writing and--I found--amusing dialogue (with enough lightly-tossed-off literary allusions to satisfy readers attracted by the book's bookish associations), Bernie Rhodenbarr's attractive "honorable thief" persona, the agreeable NY City 12th-and-Broadway book district locale. The Rhodenbarr book is also a gentle send-up of the whole damn genre, which surely needs sending up from time to time. To discuss at length any particular aspect of the fun Block has in doing so would be to deprive readers of their own pleasures of discovery, so I'll say no more.

   What I most enjoyed, however--but what other readers have found particularly objectionable--is Block's use of the JD Salinger-Joyce Maynard materials. Sensing a kindred perspective, I for one am wholly with Block here, having read Maynard's original NY Sunday Times Magazine piece, wondering what the editor could have been smoking when s/he decided to print it, and rankled at how it came to pass that someone more than a decade younger than me--Maynard was 14--could be designated by the authoritative NY Times as the voice of MY generation!!! The nerve. Given my 35-year-old peeve, I LOVED the way Block has worked the Salinger-Maynard story and would, moreover, love to believe his insights were authentically based in fact. Alas, we--or at least I--will never know, but it's fund to conjure.

   It's easy to recommend The Burglar in the Rye for the beach, for the airplane, or just as an afternoon's entertainment--yes, it is, in Block's larger oeuvre, an "entertainment" in Graham Greene's sense, as opposed to, say, the Matthew Scudder books, which are darker and more probing--a suitable distraction in a difficult time (exactly my purpose in picking it up), filled with sweetness, light, good cheer, and hardly anything--aside from a chaste lesbian romance--that the Legion of Decency would find objectionable.




2. Kudos to Lawrence Block for creating a witty series in the burglar mysteries, and a special kudo for this entry -- the best of the bunch (so far). The characters are appealing, the dialog is pithy, and the plot is intriguing. As usual, burglary is mixed in with murder, and our hero must find the killer to clear his own name. I loved the way Bernie confronts the suspects in the dramatic scene in the apartment. Such an intellect hasn't seen the pages of fiction since Nero Wolfe. I highly recommend this well written book. I suspect Mr Block would make for a most interesting dinner party.



3. Lawrence Block is one of our most talented mystery authors. In the Bernie Rhodenbarr series he explores how an ordinary, but intelligent, "honest" person might go about pursuing a life of crime as a fastidious and talented burglar who isn't proud of what he does, doesn't like to hang out with criminals, and really gets a big thrill out of breaking and entering . . . and removing nonessential valuables from rich people. As you can see, there's a sitcom set-up to provide lots of humor. But the humor works well in part because Mr. Block is able to put the reader in the Bernie's shoes while he breaks, enters and steals . . . and evades the long arm of the law. To balance the "honest" burglar is an array of "dishonest" and equally easy-money loving cops. As a result, you're in a funny moral never-never land while your stomach tightens and your arm muscles twitch as tension builds. To make matters even more topsy-turvy, Bernie at some point in every story turns into an investigator who must figure out "who-dun-it" for some crime that he personally didn't do. It's almost like one of those "mystery at home" games where the victim comes back as the police investigator, playing two roles. As the series develops, Bernie has a chance to show that he has "ethics" that he follows. Very nice!

   So much for explaining the concept of the series. The Burglar in the Rye is the ninth book in the series. I strongly suggest that you begin the series by reading Burglars Can't Be Choosers and follow it up with The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian, The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams, The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart and The Burglar in the Library. Each story in the series adds information and characters in a way that will reduce your pleasure of the others if read out of order. Despite that admonition, I originally read them out of order and liked them well enough. I'm rereading them now in order, and like it much better this way. This is the last book in the series as of now.

   The series, always comical and satirical, continues the new turn begun in The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart. The spoof expands to the detective/thriller genre in general. I found this change to be a welcome and charming one. Anyone who is a fan of The Purloined Letter will appreciate the many references to it. The Purloined Letter has been a favorite mystery short story of mine since I was a boy along with The Red-Headed League, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's deft display of the power of misdirection. Lawrence Block does a fine turn here in showing new ways to redirect attention in this entertaining literary thriller.

   So what's it all about? The story is loosely based on the background of one J.D. Salinger, reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye. Here, he's called Gulliver (Gully) Fairborn, and his former agent is planning to sell some of his letters, and destroy Fairborn's privacy. A beautiful woman, Alice Cottrell, asks Bernie to retrieve the letters, and Bernie becomes a hotel guest in the Paddington Hotel (themed to Paddington the bear) to give himself an inside edge. The entry into literary agent Anthea Landau's suite goes well, except Bernie finds her dead there. Right behind him are the police, and Bernie's on the run. While escaping, he manages to pick up an interesting item but soon finds himself under suspicion for the murder. Coincidences begin to pile up, and Bernie breaks and enters his way into our hearts with an outlandish scheme to remedy all the wrongs and bring the killer to justice. The resolution has great literary panache of the sort that will leave you chuckling for some time.

   Some of the funniest parts of this book are the on-going references to rye. Bernie starts drinking rye rather than Perrier (when he's planning to do a heist) or Scotch (when he's kicking back). He explains how rye bread is made. He reviews folk songs that mention rye. Pretty soon, lots of others are drinking rye too and discussing its merits. Bernie just can't seem to get away from rye! Does that make him a catcher?

   The theme of this book focuses on the importance of (and challenges involved in) maintaining privacy. Remember: It's not just celebrities who have this problem!

   Donald Mitchell
   Co-author of The 2,000 Percent Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage




4. While Lawrence Block's Burglar series is a bit formulaic (some of the scenes are virtual repeats, at times), his characters are simply a riot. The plot is probably not the best part of these books--the characters and dialog are. So, if you are looking for a hard boiled or serious mystery, read Block's Scudder series or an Agatha Christie. While there is fun in this book and a great quote for my collection: "Do you prefer women? To almost anything" on page 54), this is not, IMHO, his best Burglar/Rhodenbarr book. Try "The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams" or a few others. Still, I'd recommend reading them all as light entertainment, similar to Block's Tanner series.



5. This is the first Lawrence Block book I have read and I was thoroughly pleased. I found the characters charming and very entertaining and the plot twists literally made me sit there staring at the pages going, "ouch!" but I believe that's a good thing.
   
   I just adore the fact it's a whodunit as well as being satirical and often pun driven. I literally laughed out loud at some points. It is an enjoyable quick read for anyone with a little free time here and there. I would suggest it to anyone with a slightly off-kilter sense of humor.

No comments about Telling Lies for Fun and Profit : A Manual for Fiction Writers..

5 comments about A Dance at the Slaughterhouse (Matthew Scudder Mysteries (Audio)).

1. I'd never heard of Lawrence Block until I read one of his short stories, "The Merciful Angel of Death" in THE NEW MYSTERY anthology, edited by Jerome Charyn. I liked the story so much that I was thrilled to find he also wrote novels, which led to A DANCE AT THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE and Matt Scudder. Since then I've read all of the Scudder mysteries and buy the newest one as soon as I hear about it.
   So what's so good about Scudder? He's a great character for one thing. He's a recovering alcoholic, a detective without a license, a former cop who left his wife and kids. And he's got some of the seediest friends you'll ever meet. An albino pimp. Mick Ballou, a bar owner who kills people. A high-classed prostitute girlfriend. Then there's T.J., his street-smart partner with a facility for computers.
   Scudder walks or takes the subway wherever he goes. He putters around, drinking coffee, going to AA meetings, donating money to the church (any church) when he gets paid for a case. He never seems to make any progress, but his perambulations give us a chance to see New York. Then he finds a tiny thread here, another there, and before we know he's cooking with gas.
   In A DANCE AT THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE Scudder takes on the Amanda Thurman murder case. After attending a small dinner party on Central Park West, Richard and Amanda Thurman return to their brownstone on West Fifty-second Street, only to be confronted by burglars who draw guns and herd them into their apartment. They steal his watch, wallet, and Amanda's jewelry, beat Richard, tie him up and tape his mouth; then they rape his wife in front of him. Richard manages to knock the phone off the table, free the tape from his mouth, and call 911. But his wife is dead. The dead woman's brother doesn't believe Richard's story and he hires Scudder to prove Thurman murdered his sister. Scudder's investigation takes us on a journey through New York's "snuff" film, sex-for-sale underworld.
   Lawrence Block learned his craft writing for the pulp magazines, and you sure can tell. Who else can make a reformed alcoholic, and wife deserter into a likable character?



2. Block's series featuring Mathew Scudder is ably carried on in "A Dance at the Slaughterhouse".



3. Having only previously read Block's HIT MAN compilation of short stories, I was curious to dive into A DANCE AT THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE and see how Block handled his chief series character, Matthew Scudder, in the sleuthing of an actual mystery, as opposed to a hit man globetrotting for his next assignment.
   
   The result? A character-driven mystery that held me in its grip the entire time.
   
   Block tends to write in ways that don't immediately appeal to me: He incorporates sparse visual detail, doesn't start the novel with a fast and furious hook right out of the gate, and moves much more languidly through the story, as if all the events of the novel take place on a lazy Sunday. And yet, despite all this, SLAUGHTERHOUSE had me hooked. I couldn't wait to get to the end and find out whodunit. Block focuses so much on the characters in his stories that you can't help but become interested and invested in them, following them through anything and everything to the end. Because of this, all the characters in SLAUGHTERHOUSE are intriguing and memorable, from Scudder and his girlfriend to the kid who drives the getaway car at the end. And the story is dynamic, too: Block sets up two seemingly independent storylines and fuses them together by the book's climax in a way that proves he truly is one of the all-time greats of the genre.
   
   My only exceptions to this book concern one long, irrelevant passage in the middle that stretches for more than 20 pages, as well as the tendency of the secondary characters to simply blurt out everything Scudder needs to know. Very few people in this book pose a problem to Matt Scudder's info-gathering, which seems unrealistic given that he's an unlicensed Private Investigator in New York City, of all places. But nevertheless, A DANCE AT THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE is Lawrence Block at the top of the fiction mountain. Read it for a great glimpse into one of the man's best works and one of the genre's best writers.



4. The cable television producer may have orchestrated the rape and death of his wife, so the dead woman's brother hires Scudder to prove him guilty. A snuff film death holds a major clue that will connect both murders and help Scudder and his girlfriend Elaine solve the cast.
   Good read....



5. My problem is, after reading When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes, all other Matthew Scudder novels, pale in comparison. This is a good novel, but not great. I have read about 5 of his books now and this is a good read. An insight into his relationship with his father. I am not big on endings with a hail of gunfire, but it was done better than most.

5 comments about The Burglar on the Prowl (Block, Lawrence).

1. In a series of unbelievable coincidences, a burglar breaks into a random woman's apartment to relief her of some of her possessions. Before he can make good his escape, the woman comes home with a man. The man date rapes the woman while the burglar hides under the bed. Meanwhile, an apartment upstairs in the same building is burglarized and Bernie (the coward that hid under the bed) is blamed. Now, the two people in the upstairs apartment die (as does the doorman) and it turns out that the murder is connected to a plastic surgeon that Bernie burglarized the night before. Another unbelievable coincidence. Not as unbelievable as the fact that Bernie starts dating the woman that he burglarized and when he tells her he hid under the bed as she was raped, this woman decides to continue dating him. How understanding! Most women hold grudges for petty things, how did this guy get away with that?!
   
   The author has a good writing style, but the story is just too unbelievable.



2. I've just finished reading THE BURGLAR ON THE PROWL, my third Lawrence Block book in the continuing adventures of master burglar, Bernie Rhodenbar. I have to say that I've enjoyed them all tremendously. The charactors are thoroughly enjoyable and the stories, though wildly improbable, are just too much fun to miss.
   
   Mr. Block writes in a style that is quick but deliberately paced, keeping those pages turning well into the evening. The characters are funny, sterotypical, completely predictable, and absolutely marvelous. That perhaps is the great charm of these books - they are like riding a roller coaster. You can see what's coming a mile away, you anticipate the plunges, dips, swerves and loops. You know they're coming, you're absolutely delighted as you go through them, and you are always satisfied with the result once you're done.
   
   Granted, these stories do not rise to the level of a really engaging John Le Carre, P.D. James or Collin Dexter mystery. Actually, they put me more in mind of a Lilian Jackson Braun "Cat" novel or a really funny episode of Monk on the television. If you want a dark, brooding mystery with gritty realism, leave Block's books on the shelf. If, on the other hand, you want a great experience of light reading on a cold winter's evening or while lounging on a sunny beach - these are the books for you.



3. I like Block and Rodenbarr and have read many in the series. This one is a real letdown. Recently authors appear to be having more and more problems bringing their tales to a satisfactory close. That's true in spades in this book. At the end the author actually has Bernie review what the police will say happened, what really happened, and what could have happened. It is all jumbled and unintelligible. The book ends with a classic showdown in a drawing room like some '30's series. That's no problem but the reader doesn't really know who half the people are or why they are there. It's just too much confusion for a story that's pretty dull to begin with. The author does take time to praise Bernie's illegal immigrant doorman. Apparently Block feels that the high crime rate, astronomical High School drop out rate and appalling illigitimacy rate are nothing compaired with the joy that comes from rich Manhattanites being able to find good menial help who know their place. People don't get much dumber than upper west side liberals.



4. Bernie (the burglar) is always witty, inventive and in trouble. His fast-paced mysteries are a joy to read and Mr. Bloch's dialogue keeps the memory of Rex Stout alive. I have all the Bernie adventures and hope that his creator loves him as much as I do and will keep on writing for years and years.



5. As always Lawrence Block has another exciting quick read book. It is a shame he has taken a break for both his series. But will wait patiently for the next one to hit the shelves.

5 comments about Hit List (John Keller Mysteries).

1. An average plumber has a more interesting life than this hit man.
   What a waste.



2. Lawrence Block is one of those guys who apparently write at the speed of sound, or something. He's now got three series that I know of going, the dark but interesting Matt Scudder private eye series, Bernie Rhodenbarr, the burglar turned used bookstore owner, and of course the series starring Keller, the hit man with mundane everyday problems. This book, Hit List, is second in the series, and it takes up (sort of) where the first one left off.
   
   Keller's an average guy. He does most anything that other, average people do. He collects stamps (something he picked up in the first book after someone told him he needed a hobby). He does the Sunday Crossword. He even goes and does jury duty, and when he's on the jury he has a fling with one of the other jurors, at the same time trying to be honest about whether he thinks the accused person's guilty of the crime he's been accused of. The only thing unusual about Keller is that he kills people for a living. He flies someplace, looks around, and when he sees an opportunity, he kills the person. The first book was really a short story collection, and had an episodic quality to it that, for better or worse, is lacking here. This book was obviously written as a novel to start, because Keller's victims aren't the only ones dying: someone's trying to kill Keller, and getting unlucky. Of course if Keller can't figure out who the guy is, and stop him, then this is going to be a very short series of books.
   
   Block writes different books. The Scudder series is very hardboiled. Rhodenbarr by comparison is pretty light-hearted. The Keller series is more of a very dark comedy. The idea of a killer who collects stamps and winds up on *your* jury is just too weird, if you see what I mean. I enjoy the series, the mundane conversations he has with Dot (who gives him the assignments), the girlfriends he picks up and the stamps he gets. There is an element of suspension of disbelief (everyone Keller kills just dies, but when someone tries to kill Keller, incredible coincidences interfere with the other guy's plans), but it's fun anyway. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it and the first one in the series, provided you think you can enjoy a book this morally disengaged.



3. This is what happens when a succesfull author of many, many books has to write another one. Simply Dreadfull! There is hardly any story and 9/10ths of the book is filler!



4. I found the introduction to John Keller in Hit Man to be mildly entertaining. I read the novel in less than a day and had only minor qualms about its content. In contrast, Hit List took me over a week to finish and I couldn't help but stop and make mental notes of things that just didn't sit right with me.
   
   The pacing of the story is very off. Things move along so slowly that I found myself counting how many pages were left in almost any given chapter. While the end builds nicely and is probably the only part of the book that approaches being a page-turner, it peters out so unremarkably that the last chapter feels like the wrap up to a Scooby-Doo episode. Especially off-putting is the part where Dot and Keller talk their way into understanding the antagonist and his motivation - that's the closest the reader will get to a characterization of him.
   
   Most of the details and events that happen in Hit List are just plain boring. How anticlimatic is it to have numerous hits in a row end in a bizzare twist of fate? Who really gives a damn about Keller's stamp collection (the only part of Hit Man that had me wishing the pages read even faster)? An astrologer, really? What was the point of the chapters devoted to being on that jury? Also, the expository, dumbed-down conversations between Keller and Dot are more often annoying than not. How excited is a reader supposed to be about the chief conflict of a novel if the anti-hero himself remarks that he hasn't really thought about it in weeks?
   
   It's the same old Keller here, but that may be the very problem. It seems as if Block has added nothing new to the character since the previous installment. References to the previous work are sprinkled throughout but wouldn't detract from a reader's understanding if this was the first Keller novel he or she read. The conversations with Dot, the philately, and even the sexual romps are all familiar things from the first book. But we've seen it all before, except with more interesting circumstances, more challenging hits, and less arbitrary people and situations thrown between the end of the book and whichever page the reader might happen to be at.



5. Typical Lawrence Block. Funny, interesting dialogue, interspersed with bits of a story. This time, however, the plot took too long to get into, and even with the great dialogue, I found myself bored for much of the time.