Lawrence Block - The Burglar Who Liked To Quote Kipling
Bookseller, thief - Bernie Rhodenbarr can't resist the lure or a long lost Kipling poem, even if it is locked inside a millionaire's high security library. So Bernie goes browsing and sure enough he liberates the object in question...but also finds a dead redhead and is caught with the proverbial smoking gun by those boys in blue, who are ready to book Bernie for Murder One!
The thing about being a burglar is it's a secret best kept to yourself. Bernie Rhodenbarr discovers that his dentist knows he's a burglar and it seems that Dr. Sheldrake needs a burglar to steal back some valuable diamonds form his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Crystal. Bernie's visit to the Sheldrake home is thwarted by a visitor, so he hides in the closet. When Bernie emerges he finds Crystal lying dead on the floor a dental instrument the apparent murder weapon and the diamonds gone.
Introducing Bernie Rhodenbarr, N.Y.C.'s prince of thieves - who really should have known better! When the mysterious pear shaped man with a lot of uncomfortably accurate information about Bernie and his career offered him five big ones to liberate a blue leather box - unopened - from an East Side apartment, it would have been a good time to plead a previous engagement..but times were tough.
Added by: Kahena | Karma: 11524.33 | Fiction literature | 2 February 2011
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The Burglar in the Closet
It's hard to ignore someone with his hands in your mouth. Bernie Rhodenbarr's all ears when Dr. Sheldrake, his dentist, starts complaining about his detestable, soon-to-be-ex wife, and happens to mention the valuable diamonds she keeps lying around the apartment. Since Bernie's been known to supplement his income as a bookstore owner with the not-so-occasional bout of high-rise burglary, a couple of nights later he's in the Sheldrake apartment with larceny on his mind -- and has to duck into a closet when the lady of the house makes an unexpected entrance.
Bernie is lucky, lucky, lucky, thanks to his lucky parrot, Lippy. But when Bernie’s buddy Feenman touches Lippy, the good luck turns to bad! But that’s okay. Bernie has a plan. He gives the parrot to his archenemy, Sherman Oaks. It’s perfect—until Bernie finds out that Lippy’s still lucky after all!
