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    The Burglar in the Closet
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    The Burglar in the Closet
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    The Burglar in the Closet
    Ebook225 pages3 hours

    The Burglar in the Closet

    By Lawrence Block

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    About this ebook

    It's hard to ignore someone with his hands in your mouth. Bernie Rhodenbarr's all ears when Dr. Sheldrake, his dentist, starts complaining about his detestable, soon-to-be-ex wife, and happens to mention the valuable diamonds she keeps lying around the apartment. Since Bernie's been known to supplement his income as a bookstore owner with the not-so-occasional bout of high-rise burglary, a couple of nights later he's in the Sheldrake apartment with larceny on his mind -- and has to duck into a closet when the lady of the house makes an unexpected entrance. Unfortunately he's still there when an unseen assailant does Mrs. Sheldrake in . . . and then vanishes with the jewels.

    Bernie's got to come out of the closet some time. But when he does, he'll be facing a rap for a murder he didn't commit -- and for a burglary he certainly attempted -- unless he can hunt down the killer who left him hanging.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061834066
    Author

    Lawrence Block

    Lawrence Block has been writing award-winning mystery and suspense fiction for half a century. His newest book, pitched by his Hollywood agent as “James M. Cain on Viagra,” is The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes. His other recent novels include The Burglar Who Counted The Spoons, featuring Bernie Rhodenbarr; Hit Me, featuring philatelist and assassin Keller; and A Drop Of The Hard Stuff, featuring Matthew Scudder, brilliantly embodied by Liam Neeson in the new film, A Walk Among The Tombstones.  Several of his other books have also been filmed, although not terribly well.  He's well known for his books for writers, including the classic Telling Lies For Fun & Profit and Write For Your Life, and has just published a collection of his writings about the mystery genre and its practitioners, The Crime Of Our Lives.  In addition to prose works, he has written episodic television (Tilt!) And the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.  He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.

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    Reviews for The Burglar in the Closet

    4/5

    16 ratings12 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Bernie Rhodenbarr, snarky, punny, humor, murder, amateur sleuth, law enforcement Only Bernie could get into such fixes! There's lots of situational and verbal humor. The publisher's blurb gives hints and there is no need for spoilers, but Bernie gets tagged for murders but has never physically hurt anyone. Unless you consider readers spewing coffee. Enjoy the fun and mayhem! Richard Ferrone is truly remarkable as Bernie and friends.
    • 4/5
      More or less mindless entertainment, but a bit more clever than that. I do enjoy Mr. Rhodenbarr's exploits. The plot was decent, the auxiliary characters were entertaining and, overall, it was a nice diversion.
    • 3/5
      A funny fast paced mystery, my favorite scene in the book is when Bernie calls Denise Raphaelson on the phone and their back forth dialogue, she appears to have impressed Bernie with her wit also. I don't usually go to much for crime novels but Bernie makes an excellent detective and Block really knows how to write. You may need to be a bit older to solve this mystery written in 1978 with it's tent cent payphones and late night TV.
    • 5/5
      Block first published “Burglar in the Closet” in 1978 as the second of what eventually became an eleven-book series featuring the gentleman-burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr. This is clearly one of the best of the series and is a terrific read. In the series, Bernie is not your typical gritty, dirty criminal. He is actually, despite his predilection for burgling, an ordinary guy. He tries to live an ordinary life. At night, he burglarizes places and hopefully unoccupied places. The book is smoothly written and quick reading and quite hilarious, particularly when this professional burglar gets locked in the closet among the ex-wife’s gowns and shoes. This series tends to be more humorous than Block’s Scudder series and less gritty. Nevertheless, for those of you familiar with Scudder, there are echoes of Scudder here with Bernie working on the barest of clues and wandering through lower Manhattan. Bernie, however, has no problem with drinking and genuinely enjoys getting plastered.
      Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Block's burglar books are always good light-hearted value. Sort of Wodehouse meets Connelly with the burglar as the (anti)hero.
    • 4/5
      funny crime story told by a burglar
    • 2/5
      Well read again by Adams Morgan, whose voice fits Bernie Rhodenbarr perfectly & captures the other New Yorkers well, too. (I love Mrs. Hesch. Reminds me of my Aunt Anna.) Bernie is again suspected of murder & must find the real killer before the cops find him. There were so many similarities to the first in the overall plot that I just couldn't give this another star, although it wasn't bad. The end worked out about how I expected, but there was a bit of twist that I thought was over the top. Bernie thinking that Craig the dentist was the one making love to his ex-wife while he was hiding in the closet. Other than that, it was another fun romp, but I'm hoping the next book will break the mold a bit more.
    • 4/5
      Bernie's back in the wrong place at the wrong time. In order to clear his name, Bernie has to find the real murderer who is doing a great job of creating convincing circumstantial evidence. Aside from some canned explanations that sounded like they were lifted right out of the first book (who Bernie is and what his philosophy is), the story was interesting and certainly stands on its own - no need to read the first novel in order to understand what's going on here.
    • 3/5
      Bernie Rhodenbarr is framed once again for murder in the apartment he gets trapped in the midst of a jewel burglary.The plot is complicated with no true clues as to who did it but neatly wrapped-up in the last 1-2 pages. Lot of poorly developed characters and snarky quips. I think I am finished with this series.
    • 5/5
      A very fun book. Bernie is perky, literate, and has his own twisted set of morals. He reminds me of a Cockney bartender. The pacing is good and fast. Not many of the characters come across with any sort of personality other than Bernie, and I'm not sure that the crucial clue to solving the puzzle was given before the denouement or not. But the excitement and fun of the book more than make up for any weaknesses.
    • 5/5
      A humorous, very readable mystery about a burglar (Bernie Rhodenbarr) who finds himself framed for murder and needs to find the real killer. Of course, it is all tied off perfectly neatly in the last chapter.
    • 3/5
      Another perfectly entertaining Bernie Rhodenbarr story. These are the perfect treat when you just want a couple of hours of witty, lighthearted reading. I'm sure I'll continue to read books in this series when I need a break from the heavy stuff.Oh, and it was nice to see that my comparison of Block's dialogue to that of The Thin Man was vindicated in this book. There's actually a quote in the book that goes something like this:"She decided we would be Nick and Nora Charles, or possibly Mr. and Mrs. North, two pairs of sleuths she had a tendency to confuse."