Bernie Finds Himself Between Burglaries

books:


	• The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza Lawrence Block HarperTorch, 2006 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 12 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Bernie Finds Himself Between Burglaries

Lawrence Block is one of our most talented mystery authors. In the Bernie Rhodenbarr series he explores how an ordinary, but intelligent, "honest" person might go about pursuing a life of crime as a fastidious and talented burglar who isn't proud of what he does, doesn't like to hang out with criminals, and really gets a big thrill out of breaking and entering . . . and removing valuables. As you can see, there's a sitcom set-up to provide lots of humor. But the humor works well in part because Mr. Block is able to put the reader in the Bernie's shoes while he breaks, enters and steals . . . and evades the long arm of the law. To balance the "honest" burglar is an array of "dishonest" and equally easy-money loving cops. As a result, you're in a funny moral never-never land while your stomach tightens and your arm muscles twitch as tension builds. To make matters even more topsy-turvy, Bernie at some point in every story turns into an investigator who must figure out "who-dun-it" for some crime that he personally didn't do. It's almost like one of those "mystery at home" games where the victim comes back as the police investigator, playing two roles. Very nice!

So much for explaining the concept of the series. The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza is the fourth book in the series. I strongly suggest that you begin the series by reading Burglars Can't Be Choosers and follow it up with The Burglar in the Closet and The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling. Each story in the series adds information and characters in a way that will reduce your pleasure of the others if read out of order. Although, I originally read them out of order and liked them well enough. I'm rereading them now in order, and like it much better this way. The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian comes next in the series.

Bernie's friend, Carolyn Kaiser, the dog groomer at the Poodle Factory has a hot tip for him. Wealthy dog-owners, Herbert and Wanda Colcannon will be out of town breeding Astrid, their Bouvier des Flandres guard dog, who normally keeps burglars away from their possessions, which includes Herbert's famous coin collection . . . and which Bernie is already impressed by. Carolyn discovered a taste for breaking and entering while "borrowing" a Polaroid camera in The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, and now she's a full-fledged partner who insists on joining Bernie in the burglary.

Quickly inside the Colcannon's West 18th Street brownstone, they find the place a mess. "Burglars," Bernie announces. But the first burglars mainly made a mess . . . and couldn't open the safe. But Bernie does and finds some jewelry, a Piaget watch, and a nickel. The main coin collection must be safe in a bank vault elsewhere. Carolyn's more pleased with the Chagall lithograph that she takes for her apartment. So far, so good.

They retire to visit Bernie's charming fence, Abel Crowe, who had survived being an inmate at Dachau. Bernie knows that Abel is more likely to be generous if he's in a good mood, so Bernie brings Abel a little gift, a 1707 English edition of Spinoza's Ethics, bound in blue calf. Everything goes smoothly until Abel examines the nickel. "Gross Gott!" he exclaims. Bernie has brought him one of five known specimens of the 1913 Liberty Head nickel that the mint denies ever having made. It's worth a fortune. Abel offers a small sum in cash now . . . or to split the proceeds from a more leisurely sale. Bernie and Carolyn agree to wait on their money, and leave happily.

By the next morning, everything has gone bad. Unless Bernie finds out what really happened, he's scheduled to be the fly in the soup.

I didn't enjoy the mystery to be solved nearly as much in this one as in The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling. In fact, this is my least favorite of the books that Mr. Block wrote in the series. I was disturbed by who Mr. Block selected to be his victims, and found all of the coin collecting details to be not nearly as interesting as the bibliophile content of The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling. Although I wouldn't go so far as to suggest that you skip this one, I suspect that you will be disappointed compared to other books in the series even though the humor and dialogue are wonderfully strong and engaging. But stick with it, the books get much better from here in the series.

This book's theme is being careful about whom you trust. Take nothing for granted . . . including loyalty!

Donald Mitchell...

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Bernie Rhodenbarr is always fun

When Bernie and Carolyn enter the Colcannon home to ply their trade, they find that they are the second burglars to be in the in the house that night. Bernie takes a valuable 1913-V nickel from the safe. The Colcannons come home early, and when Mrs. Colcannon is murdered, guess who is blamed. . .? Of course, Bernie. When a friend of Bernie's (also the fence with the 1913-V nickel) is also murdered, Bernie must become sleuth to clear his name, and find out who killed these 2 people. A strong addition to a very funny and entertaining series.

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The Burglar Who Stuided Spinoza

The main character Bernie and his friend Carolyn decide they will break into the Colcannon's house because they are very wealthy. The job was too easy, the dog, the alarm system, wasn't there. They took their dog to get him breed. Bernie and Carolyn decided it would be a perfect time to break in. But when they got there they realized that someone had beat them to it and they took almost everything, but they went in to look around anyway. Once looking around they found Mr. Colcannon's coin collection and so they take a coin, chest, and earings. They then go over to their friend Abel's house and ask him what he thinks. He looks at the first two items and is about to pay them about $2,000.00 but they then show him the coin. It turns out that the coin is the very rare and valuable 1913-V nickle. He tells them it's worth about a half a million dollars and that he would buy it from them. They decided that they would give it to him but he needed to pay them at different times because he didnt have all that money. The next day the Colcannon's came home early and found an unwanted visitor. Abel and Mrs. Colcannon were killed. The police then pin everything on Bernie since it would be so easy. So Bernie goes on his own investigation to clear his name and find out where the coin is and who murdered the two.

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Good read

This book is a good quick read, well-written and a page-turner. The interplay of the characters is entertaining and inviting, even the final "Charlie Chan movie" type scene where the characters are brought together and the murderer revealed -- the only thing missing in the book is the lights being turned off and the quick scuffle as the perpetrator tries to escape. The author uses occasional deft and subtle humor and brings in interesting tidbits from Spinoza.
The description of the first murder crime scene (paperback page 78) led me to a correct guess of the murderer's identity.
And strangely for a book where much of the plot turns around the type of glove Bernie wore for the burglary (rubber, with the palm removed), the cover shows Bernie taking the nickel from the safe while wearing a complete leather glove.

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Definitely worth more than a nickel

With two deaths associated with a rare coin, Bernie the Burglar is trying to figure out who and why, partly to avenge his friend and fellow Spinoza afficionado, Abel Crowe. Unlike most of the books in this series, the police quickly lose interest in Bernie after the prime victim fails to identify him. Nevertheless, Bernie goes through an imaginitive investigation of his own, calling several museum curators to research the 1913 V nickel, and getting medical attention for his "Morton's feet". The climatic scene is particularly good, as Bernie plays the part of minister, presiding over a funeral, while assembling the suspects for the showdown where he lays out the evidence.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

Bookselling burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr doesn't generally get philosophical about his criminal career. He's good at it, it's addictively exciting?and it pays a whole lot better than pushing old tomes. He steals therefore he is, period.

He might well ponder, however, the deeper meaning of events at the luxurious Chelsea brownstone of Herb and Wanda Colcannon, which is apparently burgled three times on the night Bernie breaks in: once before his visit and once after. Fortunately he still manages to lift some fair jewelry and an extremely valuable coin. Unfortunately burglar or burglars number three leave Herb unconscious and Wanda dead . . . and the cops think Rhodenbarr dunnit.

There's no time to get all existential about it?especially after the coin vanishes and the fence fencing it meets with a most severe end. But Bernie is going to have to do some deep thinking to find a way out of this homicidal conundrum.

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