The Burglar in the Library (Bernie Rhodenbarr)

Bernie, if you recall, is that likeable young New Yorker who has tempered his passion for stealing classy works of art with the more staid vocation of selling books. But his passion always reigns. In this eighth Bernie Rhodenbarr caper, author Lawrence Block mimics the murderer's M.O. in Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None while preserving the premise of the Burglar series. Bernie bursts in on someone else's wrongdoing before he gets to have any fun. All he wants is to make off with a Raymond Chandler first edition, but instead, red-handed, he stumbles on foul play. Lots of amusing send-ups of the genre's older conventions, particularly those oft-employed twists of dame Christie.