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Index Interviews: William Dietrich Spam and the Children's Author The Times, They Are A-Changin' Return to This Issue's Index Return to Homepage Subscribe
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Mystery/Thriller Book ReviewsPage One of ThreeThe Burglar on the Prowl by Lawrence BlockWilliam Morrow, March, 2004Hardcover, 304 pages ISBN: 0060198303 Ordering information: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk 
After his last novel, Small Town, a hard-hitting literary
post-9/11 novel which raised a few eyebrows because of its
raunchy sex scenes, diehard fans
of gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr were beginning
to despair. Would they ever see another of the witty,
lighthearted books which take most of the conventions of
the cozy and twist them around into something
that's simply irresistible? Mercifully, the long
drought of Bernie books is over (the last was
1999's The Burglar in the Rye). In his latest
caper, Bernie is asked by an old friend to burgle the home of a
sleazy plastic surgeon who stole the old friend's
mistress. The surgeon cheats on his income tax and has
lots of unreported cash in his safe. The job is an easy one, but
Bernie can't resist one more heist on the way home.
He ends up unwittingly trapped in a woman's apartment
when she comes home early and witnesses something that
he really wishes he hadn't seen, which (naturally) ends up
involving Bernie in the young woman's life.
Next a mysterious foreigner buys a copy of Joseph Conrad's
Secret Agent for $1,300 (it's worth about $12) then gets himself
shot outside Bernie's bookstore. So, what do all these threads
have in common? It is only when Bernie invites everyone even
remotely involved in these happenings to a denouement at the
home of the plastic surgeon (a la Hercule Poirot) that we
find out the solution to the various mysteries.
Lawrence Block is one of those writers who must wake up every morning with ideas simply overflowing. No one does either a caper comedy or a mystery story quite like he does. Coincidence piles upon coincidence and subplot intertwines with subplot until you think that he'll never, never in a million years pull this one off. But he does, of course, with considerable panache. Let's just hope that it's not another five years we have to wait for the next installment in this perfectly executed, witty and delightful series. --Claire E. White The Cat Who Talked Turkey by Lilian Jackson BraunPutnam, January, 2004Hardcover, 181 pages ISBN: 0399151079 Ordering information: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk 
Since 1966, Lilian Jackson Braun has been pleasing
cozy fans with her mystery series starring journalist
Jim Qwilleran and his Siamese casts Koko and Yum Yum.
Now living in Moose County after inheriting a huge
estate, Quill certainly doesn't need to work, but he
writes a column for the local newspaper just to keep his
hand in. As the bicentennial of the nearby town of Brrr
approaches, Quill agrees to help with the festivities.
But when a dead body shows up on his property,
Quill and the cats spring into action to find a killer.
Despite some rumors to the contrary, the cozy is alive and well, and "The Cat Who" series is one of the classics. There is a murder and a subplot involving the sleazy granddaughter of Edythe Carroll, a wealthy widow who has left her beautiful mansion to retired to the Ittibittiwassee Estates. Quill and the cats wrap things up nicely, and while doing so treat readers to more of the stories about the eccentric characters who populate Moose County. This is the coziest of cozies, with cats, gentle humor and a non-violent background that is a welcome diversion from the gore and terror so prominent in today's news. Mystery/Thriller Reviews Page One | Page Two | Page Three Click Here to Return to the Book Reviews Index ** To visit the archives of mystery books reviewed in The IWJ, please click here. |