When Bernie get into the agent’s room, he encounters several unexpected problems. First, the letters he is supposed to grab are missing. Second, Anthea Landau is still in her bed, but what’s even worse, she is dead. Even though Bernie is always careful not to leave any trace, he gets out of the room quickly and tries to nonchalantly leave the hotel through a lobby that is crawling with cops. One of the policemen recognizes Bernie and places him under arrest, knowing that murder isn’t Bernie’s style, but also knowing that Bernie is not there innocently and may be able to shed some light on the events surrounding the murder.

Once Bernie is released from jail, Alice seems to all but disappear. Bernie is approached by several parties interested in paying large sums of money for the letters they think Bernie has in his possession. Bernie is also approached by a business associate to steal back some jewelry. While trying to grab the jewelry, Bernie gets trapped in the bathroom and hears Alice in the bedroom. The luggage in the room bears a different name and Bernie is very confused about Alice’s identity. Especially when a woman by the name on the luggage tag turns up dead in Bernie’s apartment. He assumes Alice was a phony name, but to complicate things, the real Alice phones Bernie the next day.

All this becomes too much for Bernie and he does some legwork and deductive reasoning to figure out who had the best reasons for murder and who might want to set him up. Then, in traditional mystery fashion, Bernie gathers all the suspects together, accuses each, and then tells why that person couldn’t have committed the crime before finally revealing the true identity of the murderer.

The Burglar in the Rye is a hilarious mystery with all sorts of convoluted twists. Bernie is a refreshing, honest character who has no airs about him and is very resourceful. He freely admits he’s a burglar and even comes up with a scheme to profit from the missing letters that takes advantage of everyone’s greed and interest in the letters. He is very loyal to his friend Carolyn and they take care of each other and watch out for each other. Bernie will never intentionally hurt someone he knows or does business with. Even when he cheats the people he considers worthy of cheating, he shares the profits with someone who helped him.

The setting in Block’s ninth Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery is very convincing. While many of the places he mentions do not actually exist (including the Paddington Hotel), they are described in ways that are reminiscent of actual buildings. The details Block uses makes these buildings believable additions to the Big Apple.

The only part of the book that was hard to follow was after Bernie was arrested he flashes back to telling Carolyn about the job Alice hired him for, and from there flashes back to when Alice actually approached him. All the digression gets a bit confusing, but once Bernie returns to the present, the plot resumes speeding along. The Burglar in the Rye is a quick, fun read with a complicated plot to figure out and a most unlikely, likable hero.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry