The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart Counter Display

This is one of the best of Lawrence Block's gentleman burglar series. A delightful read

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 Thought He Was Bogart is the seventh 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, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian and The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams. 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 in the Library comes next in the series.The series, always comical and satirical, takes a new turn in The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart. The spoof expands to the detective/thriller genre in general. I found this change to be a welcome and charming one. Anyone who is a Bogart fan will appreciate the many references to Bogart movies and famous lines in them. My fascination with Bogart began when I was a freshman in college, and a local theater offered a Bogart festival every semester . . . just when students were supposed to be catching up on their reading and getting ready for final exams. For eight semesters, I spent many happy hours seeing the same Bogart movies . . . over and over again. As Bernie spends three weeks at the movies in this book, I felt like I was back in college again watching him.Hugo Candlemas comes to Bernie's Barnegat Books and mentions that they have a friend in common, Abel Crowe, a fence who appeared in The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza. They arrange to meet later at Hugo's apartment, where Bernie agrees to lift a portfolio from a desk in another apartment for a minimum of $5,00

This is certainly not the best book in the Bernie Rhodenbarr series, but it is still entertaining in the way I expect from Block. Bernie is back with his wisecracking and his lockpicking, this time with a convoluted plot involving Humphrey Bogart movies and an attempted country called Anatruria. But it's all really unimportant, and the main clue, the word "caphob," turns out to be the key to the solution but in a really obscure way.It's really too complicated for its own good, and Block has definitely done better, but I would read another Burglar book for the reason anyone reads a series novel, for the main character and the regular supporting cast: Carolyn, the lesbian dog groomer; and Ray, the ubiquitous policeman. Oh, yes, and Raffles, hard-working, toilet-using feline about town.The Bogart references are fun, too, especially for a film fan.

LAWRENCE BLOCK'S "THE BURGLAR WHO THOUGHT HE WAS BOGART" HAS GREAT ROMANCE, BIG MYSTERY, GREAT CHARACTERS, A GREAT HOMAGE TO THE THING THAT IS BOGART, AND OF COURSE, THE GREAT BERNIE RHODENBARR. A MUST!

Bernie may be too generous for his own good in Lawrence Block's seventh Burglar Who..." series. There are many more characters in this fast paced novel, "The Burglar who Thought He Was Bogart." Bernie is over obsessed in attending a Bogart film festival. Night after night he goes to the movies. It is here he first meets Ilona who is a principal player in this novel. Lawrence Block must be a Bogart fan as well. This is evident with the dialog, which is reminiscent of Bogart films such as "Casablanca," New characters are crisp, colorful and convincing. Max Fiddler; a New York can driver appears to pick Bernie up on more than one occasion. (I wonder what the odds are of this happening in NY?) I hope Fiddler returns in a future book. Old characters from pervious novels are mentioned. Carolyn Kaiser, his best friend who runs the Poodle Parlor, a dog grooming place and Ray Kirschmann the best cop money can buy also play important roles as they have in the past. Once again Bernie the burglar turns sleuth to solve the murders. After all what would a " Burglar Who" book be without a murder or two. I am looking forward to the eighth book, "The Burglar in the Library." When I do the review will appear here along with the other Bernie Rhodenbarr books.