THE BURGLAR IN THE CLOSET

Beware! Bernie Rhodenbarr is back—don't bother to lock your door, he'd just open it anyway. As you may remember, button-down burglar Bernie ("I love to steal. I just plain love it") stumbled on a corpse during a heist last year (Burglars Can't Be Choosers); this time, the murder occurs while Bernie, who's been interrupted mid-heist in a Gramercy Park pad, cowers in the closet. Emerging from said closet, Bernie discovers not only a dead divorcee (stabbed) but also that the murderer has taken the loot Bernie had just finished assembling. To clear himself and to repossess that booty, Bernie goes a-sleuthing, searching out the divorcee's many gent friends in Irving Place bars and Soho lofts. A forgery ring turns up—along with the breezy Manhattan repartee and charmingly crude New Yorkers we've come to expect from the likably smart-alecky Mr. Block.