Our favorite burglar is back in the first of “The Burglar Who” books that actually has “The Burglar Who” in the title.  Joining Bernie on his capers are some old faces and some new faces.  Ray Kirschmann, “the best cop money could buy” is back to either arrest Bernie, or not, or maybe just get Bernie to “acquire” a fur for Mrs. Kirschmann. 

We get to meet Carolyn Kaiser.  Carolyn is “crowding 30, with  Dutch-cut dark-brown hair and remarkably clear blue eyes. She stands five-one in high and never wears them, and she’s built like a fire hydrant, which is dangerous in her line of work.” Carolyn is a dog groomer who owns the Poodle Factory, the business two doors up from Bernie’s new business.

Welcome back to the world of our favorite burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr.  Bernie gets himself accused of murder yet again. And unfortunately Ray Kirshmann, the best cop money can buy, is the one to find him in the apartment with the dead guy.

Our hero must evade the police, find the real killer and clear his name. Luckily one of his poker buddies, Rod, is out of town and Bernie can hide out in his apartment. And also luckily Rod’s plant sitter isn’t afraid of the burglar in the bed and helps Bernie on his way to redemption in more ways than one.

Ok, so this on isn’t quite a Burglar Who, but it’s one of the books in the series.

The Burglar in the Closet
Lawrence Block

I actually haven’t quite finished the book yet. Which is ok because I’ve read it once before and I’ve read through the climax and the last chapter or so is wrap up.

This is the second of the Bernie Rhodenbarr mysteries – “The Burglar Who” stories. Even though the first two don’t have who in the title, the remaining ones do. Our hero is Bernie Rhodenbarr and he is a burglar (hence the titles).  In the books Bernie has the bad luck of burglaring an abode while the owner (or some other unlucky person) gets murdered.