The Burglar in the Rye - Bernie Rhodenbarr, #9

"A witty series, Bernie is incorrigibly adorable. Between his inquiring mind and his sticky fingers, Bernie is the ideal sleuth. Notre Dame at dusk. Pepy's account of the great fire of London. A really good cashmere coat. Some treasures are timeless.I feel like putting Bernie Rhodenbarr on that list." -New York Times Book Review   "Wonderfully funny.Block's effortless first-person narrative and zippy dialogue is as pleasing as escapist fare ever gets." -Los Angeles Times Book Review   "Wittily diverting.rather like an Agatha Christie novel narrated by Basil Fawlty, or a game of Clue organized by Monty Python." -Entertainment WeeklyGulliver Fairborn's novel, Nobody's Baby, changed Bernie Rhodenbarr's life.
And now pretty Alice Cottrell, Fairborn's one-time paramour, wants the bookselling, book-loving burglar to break into a room in New York's teeth-achingly charming Paddington Hotel and purloin some of the writer's very personal letters before an unscrupulous agent can sell them. Here's an opportunity to use his unique talents in the service of the revered, famously reclusive author. But when Bernie gets there, the agent is dead .