Bernie Rhodenbarr mysteries

Now, we all know Bernie's the type of guy who likes to work alone. He finds the profits are higher and the risks a lot lower. But in Burglars Can't Be Choosers, Bernie finds that while he's no beggar, he's not above taking on a rare work-for-hire. It's simple, really. All he has to do is break into a posh East Side apartment, grab a blue leather-covered box, deliver it to his mysterious employer, and pocket a nice, easy fee. Well, nothing's ever that...

In a classic Bernie Rhodenbarr thriller, the buglar-turned-bookseller plots to steal the lost manuscript of a Kipling poem, but an unexpected twist leaves the police hot on his trail.

As a burglar, Bernie is not surprised when his girlfriend asks him to steal a Mondrian painting from the local museum in order to get her stolen cat back, but as things develop, a man is found murdered and the cops approach Bernie for answers.

Even burglars fall in love, and in this case, it's Bernie doing the falling, with the lovely and alluring Ilona. Night after night, sharing popcorn in the flickering shadow of a Bogie movie, Bernie finds himself tongue-tied - sometimes literally. It would appear Ilona's now doing all the stealing. Well, not really. Bernie's been approached by the oddly named Hugo Candlemas to pilfer a posh East Side apartment, make off with a portfolio and collect...

Literary agent Anthea Landau, legendary resident of the Paddington Hotel, is auctioning off her personal correspondence from enigmatic writer Gulliver Fairborn. Her famous ex-client, who guards his private life so jealously that he has never been photographed or interviewed, is reportedly outraged by Landau's betrayal - yet can't afford to outbid the collectors who are fighting to get their hands on his letters. Bernie Rhodenbarr is at the Paddington...

Burglar Bernie Rodenbarr and his lesbian sidekick Carolyn Kaiser break into houses, apartments and even a museum, in a madcap adventure replete with American Colonial silver, an F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscript, a priceless portrait, a remarkable array of buttons -- and a murder that needs to be solved.

For the first time ever, all of Bernie's short-form appearances in one complete volume - plus two new, unpublished pieces. In all of mystery fiction, there has never been a character like Bernie--and in this book, he demonstrates all the charm and wit and kleptophilic ingenuity that has made two generations of readers welcome their favourite burglar into their homes.