The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian: A Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery

Block, Lawrence

ISBN 10: 052594382X / ISBN 13: 9780525943822

Published by Dutton Adult, 1998

About this Item

This hardcover book is square and tight. The boards and spine have no wear with pristine gilt. The pages and endpages are clean, with no markings or folds. The dustjacket is As New. Original Price is intact. Not ex-lib. No remainder mark. A Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery.

Seller Inventory # 001328

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian: A Bernie Rhodenbarr Mystery
• Publisher: Dutton Adult
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 052594382X
• ISBN 13: 9780525943822
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition Thus
• Condition: Collectible; Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

As a burglar, Bernie is not surprised when his girlfriend asks him to steal a Mondrian painting from the local museum in order to get her stolen cat back, but as things develop, a man is found murdered, and the cops approach Bernie for answers.

Review

If the only side of Lawrence Block you know is the dark and gloomy Matt Scudder books, such as the noir classic When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, then you might be surprised to hear that he's also one of the most delightfully droll writers in the mystery business.

"I hurried uptown and changed into chinos and a short-sleeved shirt that would have been an Alligator except that the embroidered device on the breast was not that reptile but a bird in flight. I guess it was supposed to be a swallow, either winging its way back to Capistrano or not quite making a summer, because the brand name was Swallowtail. It had never quite caught on and I can understand why." That's Bernie Rhodenbarr, used book dealer and gentleman burglar, making a literary fashion statement in this latest return to print of one of Block's best books about him.

As with the other entries in this admirable series--The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar in the Library, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart, The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams, Burglars Can't Be Choosers--Block manages to be very amusing, moderately suspenseful, and impressively erudite all at the same time. The plot is a complicated tangle of double-cross and deceit surrounding the theft of a valuable painting and two murders. Mondrian isn't the only artist being framed here: Bernie has to use all of his skills--as burglar, lover, and art expert--to prove his (relative) innocence. --Dick Adler