The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza (20 page)
Read The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza Online
Authors: Lawrence Block
Tags: #Fiction, #Library, #Mystery Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #Rhodenbarr; Bernie (Fictitious character)
“It’s an impossible building to get into,” I said.
“I know.”
“And I’ve already found two different ways in and used them both up. And that was before half the tenants knew me by face and name, not to mention occupation.”
“I know,” she said, looking downcast. “I don’t suppose you’d want to have a go at it, then.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But if there’s no way for you to get in—”
“There’s always a way in,” I said. “Always. There’s always a way to pick a lock, and to get past a doorman, and to open a safe. If you’re resourceful and determined, there’s always a way.”
Her eyes were huge. “You sound in the grip of passion,” she said.
“Well, I, uh—”
“You’re going to do it, aren’t you?”
I tried to look as though I was thinking it over, but who was I kidding? “Yes,” I said, “I guess I am.”
A Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, LAWRENCE BLOCK is a four-time winner of the Edgar® and Shamus awards, as well as a recipient of prizes in France, Germany, and Japan. He also received the British Crime Writers’ Association’s prestigious Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement in crime writing. The author of more than fifty books and numerous short stories, he is a devout New Yorker and enthusiastic world traveler. Readers can visit his website at
www.lawrenceblock.com
.
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Praise
for
New York Times
bestselling Grand Master
LAWRENCE BLOCK’s
BERNIE RHODENBARR
and
THE BURGLAR WHO
STUDIED SPINOZA
“Bernie Rhodenbarr is one of the most charming and wittiest characters in the burglar business.”
Denver Rocky Mountain News
“A comic caper. Mr. Block must be weary by now of reviewers who compare him with Donald Westlake. Donald Westlake, however, is excellent company…
The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza
is hip-witted, more fun to read than Spinoza and somewhat less improving.”
New York Times
“Good fun.”
San Antonio Express-News
Bernie Rhodenbarr is such an outrageous and witty character, you wish he were real.”
San Francisco Examiner
“Bernie Rhodenbarr is the perfect companion.”
Tampa Tribune
“Lawrence Block takes readers on another hilarious caper with Bernie, the hip-talking antiquarian book dealer who gets itchy fingers whenever he sees a locked safe…
Mystery writers with the comic touch are rare, and Block is one of the best.”
Washington Post Book World
“This is no ordinary burglar…It’s Bernie’s personality that puts the fizz in
Spinoza
. Since a burglar isn’t exactly an admirable protagonist, Block makes up for Bernie’s moral deficit by giving him some great wisecracks.”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“Fans will welcome it. New readers will delight in it.”
Denver Post
“Block is a master of witty dialogue, plotting and pace, and the series’ wacky, offbeat characters make great companions.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer
“In his Matthew Scudder books, Block is one of the most serious of crime novelists.
When he chronicles Bernie…Block is one of the funniest…[Bernie] is enough to give burglary a good name.””
Los Angeles Times
“Have you read Block’s [Rhodenbarr] mysteries? You should. They are a real kick.”
Denver Rocky Mountain News
“A witty series…Bernie is incorrigibly adorable…Between his inquiring mind and his sticky fingers, Bernie is the ideal sleuth.”
New York Times Book Review
“Wonderfully detailed and inspiring writing…Bernie Rhodenbarr doesn’t have to try for hipness, because hip is in the very air he breathes…He is cute without being cuddly, he is witty without looking like he’s striving for it, and he is rakish without possessing a single mean streak in his lithe and sinuous body. His plots are cunning and inventive…And his language—I suppose we should say Lawrence Block’s language—is dry and droll and elegant, like how Dashiell Hammett would write if he was still doing the Thin Man books today.”
The Guardian
(London)
“Recommended reading…Age has not dimmed Rhodenbarr’s considerable charms.”
USA Today
“His canny survival instincts, combined with his irrepressible sense of humor, make Bernie Rhodenbarr one of detective fiction’s most engaging heroes.””
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Lawrence Block’s Bernie the burglar series aren’t just good mysteries, they are supreme escapism.”
Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
The Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries
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Collected Short Stories
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This is a work of fiction. The, characters, incidents, and dialogue are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE BURGLAR WHO STUDIED SPINOZA.
Copyright © 1980 by Lawrence Block. All rights reserved under international and Pan-American copyright conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © APRIL 2006 ISBN: 9780061840852
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