Bernie Rhodenbarr, burglar with a heart of gold, returns for this 10th installment in a reliable series from the versatile and prolific Lawrence Block (70-plus books to date). In Burglar on the Prowl, Bernie is recruited by an old friend to burgle the home of a crooked plastic surgeon, removing some off-the-books cash from a wall safe. A simple enough job, but Bernie complicates matters by going "on the prowl" one restless evening―-randomly cruising for an easy job. While he's pawing through a woman's empty apartment, she returns home; Bernie hides hastily, only to overhear an act of violence that draws him into a hunt for the perpetrator and a deepening role in the victim's life.

Lawrence Block's prose is merely serviceable, but his plotting and storytelling are first-rate. He constructs a complex puzzle, yet weaves in each new development so seamlessly that you almost don't see it happen. Like its Bernie predecessors, The Burglar on the Prowl is droll and charming, and at times you can feel Block trying a bit too hard with the charm. However, a few truly horrific bad guys and some ugly violence keep the sweetness from cloying. And it's impossible not to like Bernie, a gentleman criminal with few peers in contemporary fiction. --Nicholas H. Allison


From Publishers Weekly
You'd think that Block, with more than 50 books to his credit, would run out of ideas, but as this 10th in his Burglar series shows (after 1999's The Burglar in the Rye), he's as fresh, witty and inventive as ever. The author builds his plot on stupefying coincidences, but not to worry—everything eventually meshes. A friend asks Bernie Rhodenbarr, confirmed New Yorker, used-book dealer and gentleman burglar, to rob a mob-connected plastic surgeon who stole the friend's mistress. He agrees, and cases the doctor's house in Riverdale, the Bronx. But Bernie is restive and, uncharacteristically (because he plans carefully), he breaks into a Manhattan apartment on a whim and almost gets caught, hiding under the bed while a woman is date-raped. Next day a customer is shot near his bookstore, a mysterious émigré couple is murdered, a former Latvian war criminal is reported in New York and Bernie's apartment is ransacked. These crimes seem unrelated in such a large city, but Bernie finds a common thread. In the end, Bernie assembles 22 people (including lawmen) in the surgeon's living room and, Charlie Chan style, explains each participant's role and, where appropriate, crime. Lesser hands would not bring off this breathtaking performance, but in Block's it's seamless and hilarious. Quirky characters like Bernie's pals Carolyn Kaiser, the dog groomer, and cop Ray Kirschmann; an insider's love of New York; and a slew of wonderful puns add to the fun.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From AudioFile
In Bernie Rhodenbarr, Lawrence Block has created a likable burglar with a heart of gold. Rhodenbarr returns in the tenth book in the series; this time the bookseller thief falls in love with a woman whose apartment he had intended to rob before she became a victim of date rape. Bernie also finds himself potentially implicated in four murders and tries to solve the crimes himself. With a surprise ending, Burglar is solid and enjoyable. Block clearly enjoys reading his whodunit, and his raspy, almost whiny, voice somehow fits the novel. While Block's fans will not be disappointed, they may need to take notes to figure out who everyone is in this choppy abridgment. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Bernie is back! To devoted followers of genre stalwart Block's comic series starring Bernie Rhodenbarr, the dry-witted bookseller-thief, a new adventure reads like a treasured stand-up routine, with a few details altered. Sure, it's formula, but that's the fun. We know that when Bernie breaks into someone's home, he will either find a dead body or be trapped under the bed while something bad happens above him. We wait for it, like comedy fans waiting for a familiar punch line. This time Bernie's under the bed, and to make matters worse, he's spotted on a security camera outside the building, making him a suspect in a murder-robbery that took place next door. Then there's the problem of the Black Scourge of Riga, and don't forget the fat man who paid $1,300 dollars for a $12 copy of Conrad's Secret Agent. There's more, of course, and none of it makes much sense, either to Bernie or his pal Carolyn, who offers her usual invaluable counsel while bemoaning the difficulties of finding a girlfriend online. But not to worry, by the last chapter, Bernie gets to say his favorite line, the one we wait for the longest: "I suppose you're all wondering why I summoned you here . . ." No, Bernie, I know full well: to enjoy superb light entertainment, to cackle at your devilish wit, and to relish the glee with which your creator constructs his confoundingly clever, coincidence-cluttered plots. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Burglar and bookseller Bernie Rhodenbarr is back in this captivating new hardcover by New York Times–bestselling author Lawrence Block. Bernie's been in trouble with the law before, and he's the first to admit that it taught him an important lesson. Unfortunately for his victims (and fortunately for mystery readers like us), that lesson wasn't "Thou Shalt Not Steal." In Burglar on the Prowl, Bernie's old friend and occasional co-conspirator, Marty Gilmartin, wants to get even with the slightly shady plastic surgeon who stole his girlfriend -- a lovely (though perhaps questionably talented) aspiring actress. Getting into the wall safe at Marty's rival's house should be no problem for Bernie. After years of honing his skills, there's not much that's out of his reach. Still, such elegantly executed excursions take time to plan, in accordance with Bernie's one rule of burglary: "Don't get caught!" Unfortunately, while waiting for the perfect time to execute his perfect plan for Marty, Bernie gets an irresistible urge to go on the prowl. To a burglar, that means improvising. An old pro like Bernie knows it's courting disaster -- fun, but rarely worth the risk. And this time Bernie's luck may have finally run out. It seems there's evidence that contradicts the story he fed the cops to cover the time he was on the prowl -- evidence that puts him in the wrong place at just the right time. Now he's accused of being an accomplice in a deadly break-in and burglary he didn't commit￯﾿ﾽand that means Bernie must catch the real villains before he ends up doing time for their crimes. This series has a quirky charm all its own that'll make you eager to steal time for it from your schedule, no matter how busy you are. Sue Stone

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Antiquarian bookseller by day, burglar by night, Bernie Rhodenbarr has an innate knack, a gift, for getting into places designed to keep him out." "Sophisticated yet down-to-earth, philosophical yet practical, Bernie is a gentleman who knows and loves his territory, the gloriously diverse and electric streets of Manhattan; a connoisseur who surrounds himself with the finer things in life, including his tailless Manx tabby, Raffles, and good friends like his neighbor Carolyn. In fact, it's a friend who gets him in his latest jam. Bernie is minding his own business when he's asked for a favor - a neat, uncomplicated bit of vengeful larceny that will reap a tidy profit - an offer the intrepid thief can't refuse." But with a few days to go before the crime, Bernie gets restless. So what does a burglar do to change his mood? Go on the prowl, of course. Though not the best way to do business, as he well knows. This bit of prowling lands Bernie in a pile of trouble that includes four murders and the burglary of his own home. Caught in the center of a deadly mystery, he must use his wits and wiles to connect the dots and add up the coincidences. Because if Bernie doesn't catch a killer, he'll lose not only his freedom but his life.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

It takes an agile brain and a devilish wit to pull off this farcical self-satire; but Block not only has what it takes, he also has Bernie, whose elastic ethics and pride in his work (''It is, I blush to admit, a gift,'' he says of his skills) are the key to his raffish charm. — Marilyn Stasio

Publishers Weekly

You'd think that Block, with more than 50 books to his credit, would run out of ideas, but as this 10th in his Burglar series shows (after 1999's The Burglar in the Rye), he's as fresh, witty and inventive as ever. The author builds his plot on stupefying coincidences, but not to worry-everything eventually meshes. A friend asks Bernie Rhodenbarr, confirmed New Yorker, used-book dealer and gentleman burglar, to rob a mob-connected plastic surgeon who stole the friend's mistress. He agrees, and cases the doctor's house in Riverdale, the Bronx. But Bernie is restive and, uncharacteristically (because he plans carefully), he breaks into a Manhattan apartment on a whim and almost gets caught, hiding under the bed while a woman is date-raped. Next day a customer is shot near his bookstore, a mysterious migr couple is murdered, a former Latvian war criminal is reported in New York and Bernie's apartment is ransacked. These crimes seem unrelated in such a large city, but Bernie finds a common thread. In the end, Bernie assembles 22 people (including lawmen) in the surgeon's living room and, Charlie Chan style, explains each participant's role and, where appropriate, crime. Lesser hands would not bring off this breathtaking performance, but in Block's it's seamless and hilarious. Quirky characters like Bernie's pals Carolyn Kaiser, the dog groomer, and cop Ray Kirschmann; an insider's love of New York; and a slew of wonderful puns add to the fun. (Mar. 16) Forecast: MWA Grand Master Block recently received the British Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, only the third American to be so honored. A 100,000 printing and a 40-city author tour should ensure a run up most bestseller lists. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Block's tenth Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery finds the bookseller/burglar in what might be his most complicated intrigue. After a friend asks Bernie to burglarize the house of a prominent plastic surgeon, in revenge for the doctor's stealing the friend's mistress, Bernie becomes entangled in a labyrinthine plot involving a serial date rapist, Latvian patriots, a linguistics professor, assorted gangsters, and a seemingly ordinary copy of Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent. Bernie, the Poirot of home invasion, gathers everyone even remotely connected to the various crimes at the surgeon's home for a terrific showdown. While not as polished an interpreter of his material as Robert Forster and Joe Mantegna, Block calls attention to the sometimes subtle ironies of his self-mocking story. Highly entertaining; recommended for popular collections. Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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