The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling

By: Lawrence Block

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

Bernie Rhodenbarr has gone legit—almost—as the new owner of a used bookstore in New York’s Greenwich Village. Of course, dusty old tomes don’t always turn a profit, so to make ends meet, Bernie’s forced, on occasion, to indulge in his previous occupation: burglary. Besides which, he likes it.

Now a collector is offering Bernie an opportunity to combine his twin passions by stealing a very rare and very bad book-length poem from a rich man’s library.

The heist goes off without a hitch. The delivery of the ill-gotten volume, however, is a different story. Drugged by the client’s female go-between, Bernie wakes up in her apartment to find the book gone, the lady dead, a smoking gun in his hand, and the cops at the door. And suddenly he’s got to extricate himself from a rather sticky real-life murder mystery and find a killer—before he’s booked for Murder One.

©1979 Lawrence Block (P)1998 Recorded Books

Bernie the best

The characters are wonderfully realized by Mr Block in one the best books in a great series. Mr Ferrone's reading brings the characters to life: he's a very good reader.

LOVE this series!

I LOVE the Bernard G. Rhodenbarr series. The narrator did the characters justice and made it clear when they were changing. These "The Burglar Who..." books are filled with witty banter, comedy, crime, and of course, mystery. Bernie is the best burglarizing detective ever!

Ferrone makes these easy burglar stories a treat

The Narration makes the book!
The story is fine but Ferrone makes the character come to life.

How about something new

Bernie steals, Bernie finds dead body (or not but it's there) rest of book Bernie evades cops and murder charge then wala Bernie proves he didn't really kill anybody oh and the cop pockets some cash....REALLY getting old.
Remember that dead horse?

The dialogue

Richard Ferrone is beyond superb. He brings the story alive. A great series! Limitless admiration for the author.