THE BURGLAR IN THE CLOSET : LAWRENCE BLOCK

The Burglar in the Closet

“Everyone needs to make a living somehow. Well, don’t they? What about a huge profit? Why should I work for it when I am trained and definitely certified as a first-class burglar?”

Bernie Rhodenbarr thinks that he’s about to make a huge score when in a vulnerable position sitting on the dentist’s chair about to have his cavity filled and shot up with Novocain. The World’s Greatest Dentist as his trademark or calling card,  Dr. Craig Sheldrake, has a captive audience in Bernie when he creates a plan that he fills is a win win situation. His ex-wife got too much in the divorce settlement and the payments are huge so why not allow Bernie to fleece and case her apartment and take the jewelry and anything else that would make him just a little more financially lucrative? What could go wrong? Well the best laid plans when not fully outlined and coordinated might wind up when you see what happens with poor Bernie locked in the closet of his ex-wife’s apartment, while she is doing the horizonal mambo. But things get out of control and this person has other ideas on his mind and the next thing poor Bernie sees, her dead body. How can he get out of the apartment without being seen? Just who killed her and what will happen next since sometimes good friends will stick it to you in order to save themselves even if poor Bernie must face the rap for a murder he did not commit while hiding it the closet. So, Bernie takes a chance when deciding to burglarize this place not ever thinking that he might get caught. The setting is the affluent Gramercy Park and the divorce yielded the wife millions in jewelry that the dentist handed over for man years. So, when Bernie decides to take the job and get the jewels little did, he know that not only would he not get the jewels, but poor Bernie must now deal with the police who do not believe that he is not the real killer. A dentist that sets him up for a fall after he is arrested for his ex-wife’s murder and must find loophole or a scapegoat, in this case Bernie to take the fall for him. Added in we meet Jillian, the hygienist who has her own agenda and even frantically calls Bernie to help her find a way to get her dentist freed. But, sometimes the innocent faces of this supposedly naïve girl who at times sounds not too bright or one lightbulb short of a blowout, you wonder just how devious she might really be.

Ray Kirshmann is his police pal and quite savvy yet not so clean. When he realizes why Bernie was in the apartment and the stash that he had already collected in an attaché case, that he had every intension of leaving with, the result is he wants in on the take.

So, how does Bernie finally realize there are more players and how does he or will he find out who killed Crystal? So, who is Walter Grabow and what connection does he have to a bartender named Knobby? You won’t believe it ! Counterfeit money created by Grabow who used his skills as an artist and the same dental equipment and picks that Craig uses and that his ex-wife was killed with in order to properly create bills that can pass for the real thing. While Crystal was involved in this scheme and money or fake money was given in part to both men, someone running the scam and organizing their movements and the payments was someone hiding in plain sight. Sometimes the person you think you can trust is going to take you down and that’s what Craig intended to do to Bernie. Save his own hide and sacrifice his. Added in we meet Frankie who frequents bars, gets drunk and revealed the names of these two guys and it was up to Bernie to find them and when he does well, the body count rises, and the suspicion falls on him. When Jillian decides that she needs someone else to keep her warm and she’s angry with Craig for what he did to Bernie, little does he know that in a sense he becomes her mark in a different way. Frankie is really Frances Ackerman and when she is missing from action at the bars and his contact, Dennis, who owns the parking garage and his favorite drinking partner, gives him info that might help solve it all, the ending is quite hilarious as the banter between Bernie, Craig and the bartenders seem right out of a Rockford Files or even Magnum P.I. episode, author Lawrence Block created a series and character that he can bring back time after time, burglary after burglary, murder after murder never knowing where Bernie has decided to pilfer the items, hopefully not get caught and when the ending and the answers finally come to him, you better watch out because his next vocation might be Private Detective because he just might have what it takes to be a professional P.I. Burglar.

Who murdered Crystal? What did she learn or find out about that put this mastermind in jeopardy?  What happens when the killer is confronted, and the truth comes out? What about the dentist and his hygienist? Not everyone is what they seem. Not everyone really cares about poor Bernie. Sometimes what you think about a person is not the truth as everyone has their own agenda and each character has two sides and the disloyalties run high, the bold betrayals and deceptions might get uncovered as author Lawrence Block hits high marks with his favorite burglar in the closet.

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