Bernie - a year straight and running his bookstore - is confronted by his landlord who wants to raise his rent to an unpayable level.[return][return]MEanwhile, he is tempted back into burglary, and gets caught up in robberies he didnt commit, dead bodies in locked-from-the-inside bedrooms, blugaries he DOES commit (but manages to pin on someone else), and all whilst having witty banter with his lesbian best friend and the cop who knows what he does, just can pin anything on him[return][return]Short, and as usual, very sweet ( )

Pretty good, like the lighter side of crime fiction every now & then ( )

Former burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr has sworn off his life of crime to open a bookstore. But when he finally gives in to the temptation to backslide, he finds he's just broken into an odd locked room mystery. And then he's accused of a different burglary that he didn't even do.

This isn't a book I probably ever would have picked up on my own. While I do occasionally enjoy a mystery novel, it's really only a genre I dabble in, and I'm disinclined, in general, to start any series in the middle. Which this is, being the author's return to this particular series after a long hiatus. Also, the plot revolves around collectible baseball cards, which strikes me as one of the more boring possible things for a plot to revolve around.

But a friend bought me a copy and assured me that I'd like it. I'm pretty sure I was giving him a skeptical look at the time, but, as usual, he turned out to be right. Because I definitely enjoyed this one! The plot is ridiculous and convoluted, but in a fun way. Indeed, it seems like the whole thing sits just inside an ambiguous gray area between being a mystery novel and a parody of mystery novels, and it's remarkably comfortable in that spot. The writing is breezy and funny, with a sense of humor that's a strangely delightful combination of wit and silliness. It was even amusing and entertaining enough to quickly overcome my visceral dislike of people who get their jollies breaking into other people's homes and to make me sort of like the main character despite myself. Which is actually kind of impressive.

There is one sour note, which is a bit at the end where it treats a possible very creepy sexual assault in exactly the same flippant manner as it treats everything else, which... Well, let's just say that hasn't aged well since the novel's 1994 publication date, although I'd like to think that even then it would have taken me aback somewhat.

That aside, though, it was lots of fun. I'm not sure if it ever quite made me laugh out loud, but it did make me smile a lot. Oh, and it also features books and a cat, so I suppose it really was kind of up my alley, after all. ( )

Desaparece una valiosa colección de cromos de beisbol. La policía acusa a Bernie Rhodenbarr, ya que existen irrefutables pruebas de su culpabilidad. Sin embargo Bernie cuenta con una coartada excelente, salvo por el pequeño detalle de que no puede revelarla a la policía: en el momento de cometerse el delito él se hallaba robando en otra casa, y para colmo allí había un cadaver.....

Block, Lawrence. The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams. 1994. Bernie Rhodenbarr No. 6. HarperTorch, 2005.
It has been a year since Bernie has done any burgling, but now his bookstore needs an infusion of cash. While he is burgling one apartment, a murder is being committed in another, and to make matters worse, he is accused of stealing some valuable baseball cards he didn’t touch. Coincidences like this seem to dog his career in crime. As usual with Lawrence Block, the plot is constructed well, and the dialogue is sharp and breezy. If you need some beach reads this summer, take along a stack of Burglar Who books. 4 stars. ( )