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The Burglar In The Library

by Lawrence Block

Lawrence Block is another of my favorite authors. I know – I know – I already gave you five that I love and wait anxiously for every new book they write – but there are at least five more that I wait on just as avidly, and Lawrence Block is one of them. The Burglar In The Library is one of his Bernie Rhodenbarr series, and as usual, Mr. Block uses every page to perfection with sparkling wit and devious machinations.

The Burglar In The Library is not Lawrence Block's latest book, but it's most assuredly one you can't afford to miss. Bernie Rhodenbarr, who loves books of all kinds, is a New York bookseller by day, owner of Barnegat Books – and a burglar at night. His best friend is Carolyn, the pretty lesbian owner of The Poodle Factory, where she grooms dogs only a few doors away from Bernie's bookshop. When Bernie's current squeeze informs him she's getting married that weekend (as she climbs out of his bed), Bernie is naturally upset, because he's already made reservations for them at a faux English manor called Cuttleford House, starting that Thursday.

So where else could you find an exact replica of an English manor house, complete with English-style meals, staff, and lingo, except in England? Only three hours north of New York City, that's where. According to The Burglar In The Library, Cuttleford House, located in the Berkshires, was built a hundred years ago but is now being run by Cissy and Nigel Eglantine as a hotel. Bernie invites Carolyn to take his former lover's place (as a friend only) in fulfilling the reservation commitment, and she accepts, since it's for free. But Bernie has another reason for going to Cuttleford House. It seems there's the distinct possibility of a very rare first edition in its Great Library (whose walls reach up to twelve feet). Not only a first edition, but one signed by its famous author to another equally famous name. It would bring in quite a lot of money. And best of all, the Eglantines would be totally unaware of its existence.

Bernie and Carolyn arrive in the middle of a huge snowstorm. Bernie's cat, Raffles, is a reluctant addition to their luggage, but Bernie was skeptical of leaving him alone in the bookstore. Since Raffles is trained to use a toilet like his human keepers, however, there's no need for cat litter, and Raffles is free to wander the vast, labyrinthian rooms of the country house. Two other guests are expected for that particular weekend, although understandably late due to the snow. When they finally arrive, Bernie is taken aback to see his former lover, Lettice, is half of the newlywed couple.

One of the guests is murdered - in the library, in true Agatha Christie English mystery fashion - and of course, with all the guests snowed in, the perpetrator has to be one of them. The library is then declared out-of-bounds, which makes it a little difficult for Bernie to snatch the prized book, which he has indeed located on a top shelf. Then the initial murder is followed by two more, not counting the supposed accident and subsequent death of the very first victim, or the other happenings which effectively seal everybody in. And the valuable book is missing.

Bernie has to play dead himself in order to have a chance at everybody's room (with his trusty lockpicks), hopefully to turn up something that will incriminate the murderer. And only Raffles, his cat, clues him in to the discovery that someone else knows he's not the corpse they've all (or mostly all) thought he was.

Our hero has, however, discovered exactly who the murderer is - and for once, it's who we hoped it might be. It's just that the motive was completely obscure until Bernie got into the right bedroom. The book ends with a surprise twist, plus the fact that Bernie did get the book he was originally after - but can't sell it, for reasons he makes clear to his friend Carolyn.

Lawrence Block made me laugh aloud
when I read about Carolyn's take on the odd names of certain English dishes, and it's a rare thing for any author to do more than make me smile. The Burglar In The Library gets a lot more serious after that, even though the repartee continues in between. What's important is the fact that this is a wonderful take-off on the classic English country house mystery, and even more important is the fact that Lawrence Block writes it so well.

Alan Paul Curtis

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