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    The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons
    The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons
    The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons

    Written by Lawrence Block

    Narrated by Richard Ferrone

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Ever since The Burglar on the Prowl climbed the bestseller lists in 2004, fans have been clamoring for a new book featuring the lighthearted and lightfingered Bernie Rhodenbarr. Now everybody's favorite burglar returns in an eleventh adventure that finds him and his lesbian sidekick Carolyn Kaiser breaking into houses, apartments, and even a museum, in a madcap adventure replete with American Colonial silver, an F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscript, a priceless portrait, and a remarkable array of buttons. And, wouldn't you know it, there's a dead body, all stretched out on a Trent Barling carpet ...
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJan 31, 2014
    ISBN9781490622880
    Author

    Lawrence Block

    Lawrence Block has been writing award-winning mystery and suspense fiction for half a century. His newest book, pitched by his Hollywood agent as “James M. Cain on Viagra,” is The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes. His other recent novels include The Burglar Who Counted The Spoons, featuring Bernie Rhodenbarr; Hit Me, featuring philatelist and assassin Keller; and A Drop Of The Hard Stuff, featuring Matthew Scudder, brilliantly embodied by Liam Neeson in the new film, A Walk Among The Tombstones.  Several of his other books have also been filmed, although not terribly well.  He's well known for his books for writers, including the classic Telling Lies For Fun & Profit and Write For Your Life, and has just published a collection of his writings about the mystery genre and its practitioners, The Crime Of Our Lives.  In addition to prose works, he has written episodic television (Tilt!) And the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.  He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.

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    Reviews for The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons

    4/5

    18 ratings6 reviews

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    • 4/5
      “Every passion is interesting to him who suffers from it. And one sometimes feels impelled to inflict it on others.” That could be the motto of this book. I suspect, that in addition to stamps, of which we learn a great deal in the Keller series, Block is enamored of political buttons and hoards of historical trivia. Did you know that Vermont had been a republic that had issued its own coinage? From 1777 to 1791, it was, when it split off from New York, when the colonies revolted and Vermont decide to revolt against New York. Its independence was recognized by New York in 1791 when it then decided to join the United States as the Fourteenth. State, especially after it was not permitted to join Quebec. I mention this only because there are substantial passages in the book where the man who hires Bernie to steal a couple of things related to buttons, goes on at some length about various things. Now, it so happens, that I enjoy learning about stamps and buttons and other little arcane facts such as William Howard Taft being known as Billy Possum and Eugene Debs running for office while being incarcerated for his opposition to WW I so his buttons had imprinted on them, “For President: Convict No. 9563.” Fascinating. Not to mention the Apostles spoons.We all love the Bernie Rhodenbarr series of books. Bernie, you may remember, owns a used book store, but steals things on the side. It’s quite interesting. I’ve listened to Block read his books, and there is a certain rhythm and cadence that I feel when I’m reading them, not unpleasant, just uniquely his style.There’s one passage that I just have to quote. Bernie has been approached by a customer and they begin discussing first editions of Gatsby. They conclude precisely what I feel about the book.“The Great American novel? No, hardly that. The puzzle of Gatsby is how so many otherwise perceptive people can find so much to admire in it. Do you know why Jay Gatsby is such an enigma? It’s because Fitzgerald himself never had a clue who the fellow was. An arriviste, a parvenu, an upstart if you will, a man who made big money in a hurry and got his hands just a little dirty in the process. Hardly a rarity at the time, and there was a fellow in Boston with a similar story who got his son elected to the White House. Fitzgerald didn’t know what to make of Gatsby, and the literary establishment has responded by enshrining his bafflement. So no, I don’t think much of Gatsby, or your Mr. Fitzgerald.” The plot revolves around a short story written by Alexander Roda Roda (not to mention puns on Doran Doran and Meyer Meyer not to be confused with Meyer Meyers) and published several years before Fitzgerald’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” appeared in Collier’s magazine yet the premise of the story was the same, an individual is born old and then gets gradually younger. But the key is on his name. Bibliophiles and trivialists will certainly enjoy this book especially. Five stars for a great story with lots of trivia. Two stars for those people who will get bogged down by the detailed information. So 3.5 stars rounded off to 4.
    • 4/5
      The 11th adventure starring burglar/ solver of murders Bernie Rhodenhall.This is the first of the series I've read. I bought it expecting a sort of golden age murder mystery and was surprised when it turned out to be set in the modern age. Our protagonist, Bernie Rhodenhall, owns a bookshop getting squashed by Amazon et al. To supplement his living, he works as a gentleman burglar for hire. Unfortunately he keeps stumbling across dead bodies in the course of the night job. Strangely this doesn't seem to put him off his better paying profession because this is the 11th in the series. To prove his innocence he sets out to solve the case, assisted by what another reviewer refers to as the regular cast. I can't remember how he explains his presence at the scene to the police when he unmasks the villain, but he does.Bernie R is a bit clumsy, shy and engaging because of it. He's more Watson than Sherlock. As a reader I wanted it to turn out well for him, and it sort of did.As 254 pages it's the perfect holiday read.Nina Jon is the author of the newly released Magpie Murders - a series of short murder mysteries – and the Jane Hetherington's Adventures in Detection crime and mystery series, about private detective Jane Hetherington.
    • 3/5
      Bernie, used book store owner by day and burglar by night is helping his friend a cop find the murderer of a wealthy women while running a con on a client who wants him to steal an Apostle Spoon. Light amusing read while the author takes several jabs at e-readers and Amazon.
    • 4/5
      Bernie Rhodenbarr is approached by a customer with a proposition: steal a coveted first printing of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. When Bernie hands over the desired document, he’s then asked to steal a silver spoon adorned with the likeness of Benjamin Gwinnett, a background player in the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

      As if this isn't enough to keep Bernie busy, he’s approached by an old friend on the other side of the law for a consultation regarding a recent break and enter that left an elderly woman dead. Can Bernie steal the silver spoon and crack the case at the same time?

      I had been reading a few of Block's earlier novels published through Hard Case Crime when I received an offer from his publicist to take a look at The Burglar Who Counted The Spoons. I was a little apprehensive at first because as a reader, I never read out of sequence. This isn’t as strict as Batman's "one rule" but it’s something I prefer to abide by. However, it's Lawrence Block and it’s an advanced copy of his new book – how could I possibly say no? Truth is, I’m glad I didn't.

      Not having read the previous ten installments of the Burglar series, it’s impossible for me to judge whether or not I would have had a richer reading experience had I read them first but that being said, it’s hard to imagine needing a lot of back story going in. Block does a great job bringing the reader up to speed on Rhodenbarr’s world as a semi-retired burglar who happens to own and operate a bookstore.

      It’s worth mentioning that Block is a damn funny guy. There were a few laugh out loud moments in the novel that I had to highlight and save for later, my favorite being:

      "..'It was a real Playboy fantasy, wasn't it? She’s hot and gorgeous, she does everything you can think of and a couple of things you can’t, and then she’s gone. It doesn't get any better than that.’

      'It could have been better. Around four in the morning she could have turned into a pizza.'"

      When it comes down to it, this is light storytelling at its finest. While the history of the silver spoon was tightly researched and the reasoning behind its procurement had been interesting, the free-flowing conversations between Bernie, Carolyn and Ray were the highlight, leading to the pages breezing by. I will be seeking out the earlier Bernie novels for sure – I suggest you do the same.
    • 4/5
      Lawrence Block has a way with words and his alter ego, Bernie Rhodenbarr, aptly demonstrates it. It is enjoyable to see another delightful entry in really fun series about an artful burglar who still keeps his day job at Barnegat Books. His short friend Carolyn is a hoot and their running patter about "Juneau Lock" is aptly transitioned to an appropriate finale. A suitable "Stoutian" climax is finessed sans Archie and Wolfe but with sufficient stolid police presence from an enlightened Ray Kirschmann and colleagues.
    • 4/5
      Bernie, the perpetually young-ish burglar/bookstore owner is back. He's not in danger of being accused this time, but he is still illegally employed in burglarizing homes. This time his client and a murder case have an unlikely connection. One of the best things about this series is all the tongue-in-cheek stuff that makes up the dialog. I always enjoy the laughs.