2014 Book 02: The Burglar Who Counted The Spoons
Book 02: The Burglar Who Counted The Spoons by Lawrence Block, isbn: 9780991068425, Lawrence Block (self-published), 250 pages, $9.99
The Premise: (from the Goodreads page) Ever since The Burglar on the Prowl climbed the bestseller lists in 2004, fans have been clamoring for a new book featuring the lighthearted and lightfingered Bernie Rhodenbarr. Now everybody's favorite burglar returns in an eleventh adventure that finds him and his lesbian sidekick Carolyn Kaiser breaking into houses, apartments, and even a museum, in a madcap adventure replete with American Colonial silver, an F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscript, a priceless portrait, and a remarkable array of buttons. And, wouldn't you know it, there's a dead body, all stretched out on a Trent Barling carpet...
My Rating: 5 stars out of five
My Thoughts: Some people have waited ten long years for Lawrence Block to return to the world of Bernie Rhodenbarr. It hasn't been that long for me since I only started reading the Bernie books a few years ago and in fact still have a handful in the series that I haven't read. But my reaction to any new Block book is the same: an unqualified excitement for what the author is going to do this time.
This Bernie story is as breezy, light and fair-play as we've come to expect from the series. Bernie's latest caper starts straightforward: steal a manuscript from a museum that doesn't really know the manuscript is special. Of course, the case gets more complicated from there; the customer wants Bernie to two more objects related to a theme of buttons, and each is succeedingly harder to get to. Along the way Bernie gets assistance from the always-acerbic Carolyn and of course the two spend countless lunches and after-work drinking sessions trading sharp topical banter that would make most "smart" television drama writers wish they could do half as well (Bernie would probably caveat this with "assuming any television writers ever picked up a book."). I love these scenes, even when they slow down the narrative (which, come to think of it, is probably why Block places them where he does. But I have a serious question that perhaps only Block himself can answer: why is it when I read Carolyn's dialogue, I "hear" Elaine Stritch/Patti Lupone in full "Joanne from 'Company'" mode? Seriously. If you're familiar with that musical, go back and read any random Bernie-Carolyn conversation. Tell me you don't hear it.
The book is also, perhaps moreso than any other Bernie book, concerned with various possible love interests. As with the identity of Bernie's mystery client and the identity of the killer (see below), I wouldn't dare spoil who, if any, of the various women Bernie hooks up with / flirts with our anti-hero ends up with. The romantic twists and turns are as much fun to follow as the mysterious ones.
Where "Spoons" veers into slightly different territory than the previous Bernie books is in the murder that needs to be investigated. For once, it's not Bernie who comes across the dead body in the course of committing a simple burglary and it's not Bernie who is the prime suspect in the case. Bernie is actually called in by long-time foil Detective Ray Kirschmann to consult on a murder. Which leads to another key, and fun, difference: Bernie gets to imitate some of the detectives he admires, especially Nero Wolfe, and pulls a classic "get all the suspects in the same room and slowly reveal who the killer is" set-up. The scene, stretched over several chapters (all of the book's chapters are short and punchy) is just a delight to read and had me chuckling along with Bernie, who is clearly enjoying the situation.
The resolution to all of the mysteries set out in the first half of the book is quite satisfactory and about as fair-play as a Bernie book can get. I know it's early days yet for this year, but I'm positive The Burglar Who Counted The Spoons is going to make my "favorites of 2014" list.
The Premise: (from the Goodreads page) Ever since The Burglar on the Prowl climbed the bestseller lists in 2004, fans have been clamoring for a new book featuring the lighthearted and lightfingered Bernie Rhodenbarr. Now everybody's favorite burglar returns in an eleventh adventure that finds him and his lesbian sidekick Carolyn Kaiser breaking into houses, apartments, and even a museum, in a madcap adventure replete with American Colonial silver, an F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscript, a priceless portrait, and a remarkable array of buttons. And, wouldn't you know it, there's a dead body, all stretched out on a Trent Barling carpet...
My Rating: 5 stars out of five
My Thoughts: Some people have waited ten long years for Lawrence Block to return to the world of Bernie Rhodenbarr. It hasn't been that long for me since I only started reading the Bernie books a few years ago and in fact still have a handful in the series that I haven't read. But my reaction to any new Block book is the same: an unqualified excitement for what the author is going to do this time.
This Bernie story is as breezy, light and fair-play as we've come to expect from the series. Bernie's latest caper starts straightforward: steal a manuscript from a museum that doesn't really know the manuscript is special. Of course, the case gets more complicated from there; the customer wants Bernie to two more objects related to a theme of buttons, and each is succeedingly harder to get to. Along the way Bernie gets assistance from the always-acerbic Carolyn and of course the two spend countless lunches and after-work drinking sessions trading sharp topical banter that would make most "smart" television drama writers wish they could do half as well (Bernie would probably caveat this with "assuming any television writers ever picked up a book."). I love these scenes, even when they slow down the narrative (which, come to think of it, is probably why Block places them where he does. But I have a serious question that perhaps only Block himself can answer: why is it when I read Carolyn's dialogue, I "hear" Elaine Stritch/Patti Lupone in full "Joanne from 'Company'" mode? Seriously. If you're familiar with that musical, go back and read any random Bernie-Carolyn conversation. Tell me you don't hear it.
The book is also, perhaps moreso than any other Bernie book, concerned with various possible love interests. As with the identity of Bernie's mystery client and the identity of the killer (see below), I wouldn't dare spoil who, if any, of the various women Bernie hooks up with / flirts with our anti-hero ends up with. The romantic twists and turns are as much fun to follow as the mysterious ones.
Where "Spoons" veers into slightly different territory than the previous Bernie books is in the murder that needs to be investigated. For once, it's not Bernie who comes across the dead body in the course of committing a simple burglary and it's not Bernie who is the prime suspect in the case. Bernie is actually called in by long-time foil Detective Ray Kirschmann to consult on a murder. Which leads to another key, and fun, difference: Bernie gets to imitate some of the detectives he admires, especially Nero Wolfe, and pulls a classic "get all the suspects in the same room and slowly reveal who the killer is" set-up. The scene, stretched over several chapters (all of the book's chapters are short and punchy) is just a delight to read and had me chuckling along with Bernie, who is clearly enjoying the situation.
The resolution to all of the mysteries set out in the first half of the book is quite satisfactory and about as fair-play as a Bernie book can get. I know it's early days yet for this year, but I'm positive The Burglar Who Counted The Spoons is going to make my "favorites of 2014" list.