©1997, ProMotion, inc.
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Review by Tom Corcoran
Bernie Rhodenbarr may well be more famous than his celebrated creator, Lawrence Block. He certainly shares Block's intellect and sense of humor. As protagonist of eight Burglar mysteries, Bernie time and again survives his dual career of bookstore owner and small-time thief only by solving crimes much worse than those within his specialty.
"The Burglar in the Library" finds Rhodenbarr leaving Manhattan for a rural New England winter weekend. He planned to take his latest lover, Lettice Runcible, but the woman backed out -- to get married. This romantic setback does not inspire Bernie to cancel plans. Indeed, his primary objective is the pilfering of a valuable first edition of "The Big Sleep," inscribed by Raymond Chandler to fellow author Dashiell Hammett. Rhodenbarr believes that the book may be on a bookshelf at Cuttleford House, a quaint, sprawling B&B that has passed through several landlords since Chandler and Hammett met there in the early 1940s. Because he's made reservations for two, Bernie takes along his friend, Carolyn Kaiser. Rhodenbarr's not positive that the book is at Cuttleford House, but the trip is worth the gamble. At worst, he and his friend will have spent a relaxing few days in the slow lane. What could go wrong? Plenty.
An old rule of genre fiction dictates that, no matter an author's approach to comedy, that writer must never make fun of the genre itself. Lawrence Block demonstrates his edgework and expertise in "The Burglar in the Library." By comparing the odd similarities of Cuttleford and its eccentric visitors to the settings and characters of classic British "cozy" and "locked room" mysteries, Bernie and Carolyn invoke the propriety and logic of "Murder She Wrote." This is not to say that the reader is delivered to another time and place. Block blends in current-day hipness to remind us that this is the 1990s.
©1997, ProMotion, inc.