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Bernie Rhodenbarr loves books. So much so that he's owned a bookstore in New York City for many years. The bookstore doesn't really help him pay for everything he wants, so Bernie is also a burglar, a very good one in fact. He's only been caught a few times after many years of breaking into other people's apartments. Bernie would like to stop his criminal ways but it's hard to do, especially when his new landlord tells him that the rent on the bookstore will be going up quite a lot. What's a burglar to do but to do what he does best, break into another apartment? Which Bernie does, but instead of finding some cash he finds a dead body and decides he'd better leave empty-handed. The next day the police arrest Bernie and accuse him of breaking into a totally different apartment and stealing a baseball card collection worth $1 million dollars. Now he has to prove that he didn't do this crime, come up with additional rent money, and find time for his new girlfriend. And there is that little matter of the dead guy in the bathroom. Keeping up the tradition as found in all the other Bernie Rhodenbarr books, Bernie does his best to save the day by helping the police solve the murder and discovering who stole the baseball card collection. Author Lawrence Block is a gem of a writer. The dialogue is close to perfect in this book especially when Bernie and his best friend, dog groomer Carolyn, talk about Sue Grafton's alphabet series and her main character Kinsey Milhone. Grafton's books are mentioned all throughout THE BURGLAR WHO TRADED TED WILLIAMS and each time the series was mentioned it never failed to make me chuckle. Lawrence Block is an extremely talented writer and I never tire of his work. His books are witty and intelligent and you can tell he loves New York City, which is also a main character in all of his different series. Even though this book is a reissue, it's not really dated and is it is just as fresh as the first time it was published. Pick up a copy of THE BURGLAR WHO TRADED TED WILLIAMS. It stands on its own. Then once you fall in love with the engaging Bernie go and find the rest in this series. You will not be sorry.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, March 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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