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Lawrence Block is such a gifted writer that even a native New Yorker will be fooled into thinking that the Paddington Hotel, described in the opening pages of Burglar in the Rye, is a real institution. Block's descriptions of this enclave of artists, writers, and rock musicians is thoroughly convincing-although in actuality, the Paddington is a combination of the real-life Chelsea Hotel and Block's outrageous imagination.

This is Bernie Rhodenbarr's ninth heist. Bernie is a gentleman burglar who runs a used bookstore in between criminal acts, steals mostly from the rich, and only hurts people when it becomes absolutely necessary.

The Paddington is where Bernie goes to liberate the letters of a reclusive writer named Gulliver Fairborn from a literary agent. Fairborn 's resemblance to J.D. Salinger and, of course, the fact that the woman who hired Bernie to steal the letters had an affair with Fairborn when she was a teenager, no doubt lend the book its title. But by the time Bernie gets to the Paddington, the agent has been shot, the letters already liberated-and a cop in the lobby recognizes our favorite burglar from a previous encounter.

Now all Bernie has to do is find out who else wanted those letters badly enough to kill for them. In typical Rhodenbarr tradition, the plot is less interesting than the trappings: the books Bernie reads, the fascinating

Library Journal

After Small Town, Block's very dark standalone novel about the aftermath of 9/11, his new Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery comes as comic relief. This time the antiquarian book dealer/burglar is asked by a friend to burgle the home of the man who stole the friend's girlfriend. But a few days before the scheduled break-in, Bernie begins to feel itchy and decides to go on the prowl: "Walking the dark streets, gloves in one pocket, tools in the other, risking life and liberty for no good reason. I knew what I was doing, and I damned well should have known better." His little misadventure leads him to an encounter with a date rapist, accusations of murder, and the burglary of his own home. While the book sinks at the end with an overly convoluted drawing room scene, Block keeps the reader entertained throughout with his charming, eccentric characters and trade-mark humor. (One running gag: Bernie keeps trying to read the latest John Sandford best seller, Lettuce Prey, about a serial killer of vegetarians, but is continually interruped.) For most mystery collections.

Bernie Rhodenbarr – a romantic? Hey, 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 the portfolio and collect a fast, easy sum. A reasonable enough request for a trained burglar, sure, but just when things are going well, things turn bad.<

Evan Tanner ran head-first into a piece of shrapnel in Korea, and now he can’t sleep. Ever. Which can be an asset for a dedicated linguist, term paper forger, thief, lost cause enthusiast… Spy. Tanner takes on jobs for a covert intelligence organization so secret that even those who work for it have no idea who they’re working for. Now his nameless supervisor wants him to sneak behind the Iron Curtain, storm an impregnable castle in Prague (alone!), and rescue an old Slovak who’s got a pressing date with a hangman’s noose. The trouble is the prisoner is an unrepentant Nazi who makes Goering look like Mister Rogers. Tanner hates Nazis. If he’s caught (which is likely) the U.S. will deny that they know him. And Tanner will be executed. After being tortured, no doubt. All in all, there are many excellent reasons why Tanner should refuse this assignment. So, naturally, he says yes.<

Evan Tanner can’t sleep. Ever. Which gives him plenty of free time to get involved in lots of interesting endeavors in all sorts of exotic locales. Now Tanner’s in Thailand with a partially baked plan and a butterfly net, hoping to snare a beautiful missing chanteuse who’s metamorphosed into an international jewel thief. Tanner hopes everyone will buy his disguise as a rare butterfly researcher. And everyone does… Except the guerilla band holding him captive. They intend to remove his head when the sun rises, so Tanner must put his fate in the hands of a randy Thai youth who will do anything for a woman, even set a suspected spy free. Soon they’re running through the jungle together, chased by bandits, soldiers, and yellow fever, and racing headlong into the heart of darkness – and into the flames of war.<

From Library Journal Block introduced Evan Tanner, specialist in lost political causes, in this rousing, often comic 1966 yarn. Unable to sleep for 15 years following a Korean War head wound, Tanner devotes his considerable free time to reading, learning languages, and turning his affliction into a livelihood by writing theses and dissertations for graduate students in New York. Then he learns of hidden Armenian gold in Turkey and sets off on an unlikely adventure that makes him the most wanted fugitive in the world as well as the accidental leader of a Macedonian revolt. Block's tale gets off to an engaging start, sags in the middle partly because of some bone-jarring violence, and recovers neatly at the end. Nick Sullivan handles the characters' many accents quite well. Highly recommended. <

Edgar Award-winning author Lawrence Block returns with another outrageous caper featuring Chip Harrison...a sleuth who always seems to get into trouble with a capital T! Now a man about town working for a famous detective, Chip Harrison finds himselfat a Times Square Club waiting for his latest client, a stripper, to finish a night’s work. When she completes her set, she introduces him toher roommate, a dancer who’s targeted for murder...and killed in the club right before their very eyes! The list of suspects is as long as the line outside the club, and now it will take all of Chip’s street smarts to trap a killer!

Lawrence Block is one of the most respected and bestselling authors ofmystery fiction

Lawrence Block has won the Edgar Award three times, the Shamus Award four times, the Maltese Falcon Award twice, and was named Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America

Previously published under pseudonyms and in omnibus collections, this isthe first time the Chip Harrison novels are being individually published under Lawrence Block’s name

The Chip Harrison mystery series also includes, and

El crimen es el crimen, pero el asesinato es algo mayor, diferente. Nadie tiene derecho a arrojar al río la cabeza de un pequeño ladrón y chantajista. Por lo menos según el codigo de honor de Matt Scudder…

Giros Jablon, un delincuente de poca monta, acude a donde un antiguo policía al que respetaba, Matt Sudder, para entregarle un sobre que debe abrir tan sólo si muere violentamente. Cuando es asesinado Scudder lo abre y averigua que estaba chantajeando a tres personas importantes una de las cuales, con casi total seguridad, es el responsable de su asesinato.

Matt Scudder ha pasado muchos de sus días sumergido en el alcohol, dejándose el alma en cada rincón de la Gran Manzana. Hace tiempo perteneció al Departamento de Policía de Nueva York, pero todo aquello ya quedó atrás. Ahora es un detective sin licencia, perseverante y de mente afilada, y no deja que sus obsesiones enturbien la investigación.

Lo acaban de contratar para que demuestre una sospecha: que Richard Thurman, personaje influyente de la vida pública, planeó el brutal asesinato de su esposa, estando ella embarazada. En medio de la investigación aparecerán pistas desconcertantes, aparentemente desligadas del caso, pero todos los misterios acabarán confluyendo para enseñar al detective que una vida joven e inocente puede ser comprada, corrompida y aniquilada.

`Un baile en el matadero` recibió el premio Edgar 1992.

`Un millón de dolares en efectivo o matamos a tu mujer`. Los traficantes de drogas son presa fácil de la extorsión y, por razones obvias, no pueden acudir a la policía. Kenan Khoury recibió el mensaje, pero vaciló frente al precio del rescate: no volvió a ver a su mujer con vida. Ahora sólo piensa en vengar su muerte. Para ello contrata los servicios de Matt Scudder, un detective privado sin apenas trabajo y que sufre algún que otro problema con el alcohol. Con ayuda de dos genios de los ordenadores, un punk callejero y una amiga prostituta, Scudder busca a los asesinos en los bajos fondos de Brooklyn.<

These were the dark days for Matthew Scudder. An ex- New York cop, he had drowned his career in booze. Now he was drinking away his life in a succession of seedy establishments that opened early and closed late, reduced to doing paid "favors" for the cronies who gathered with him to worship the bottle.

Now, in a sad and lonely place like so many before it, opportunity comes knocking – a chance to help the ginmil's owner recover his stolen doctored financial records; a chance to help out a drinking buddy accused of murdering his wife. But when cases flow together in dangerous and disturbing ways – like the nightmare images in a drunkard's delirium – it's time for Scudder to change his priorities: to staying sober…and staying alive.

Mr. January: Rafe Medici, extremely eligible millionaire

Status: Power is his only partner

Situation: He's a papa, and the last to know

Fatherhood was not on his agenda. Yet once Rafe learned he had an heir, he was determined to get the child under his roof. Only the boy's guardian, Nicole Livingstone, stood between him and his desire. No one denied a Medici, and if it took seduction to win over Nicole, Rafe was happy to try. But in getting the beautiful woman to soften, this wealthy bachelor had best be certain she didn't get him to change his no-love rule.

Lori Granger, a glamorous heiress with a penchant for overwhelming generosity, suddenly finds herself at the mercy of Jackson James, a handsome if no-nonsense CPA who refuses to give up control of her trust fund and who apparently is immune to her charms.<

Marius dos Hellespont and his apprentice, Gerd, are professional looters of battlefields. When they stumble upon the corpse of the King of Scorby and Gerd is killed, Marius is mistaken for the monarch by one of the dead soldiers, is transported down to the Kingdom of the Dead. The dead need a King--the King is God's representative, and someone needs to remind God where they are. 

Marius is banished to the surface with one message: if he wants to recover his life he must find the dead a King. Which he fully intends to do. Just as soon as he stops running. 

La storia di Len Colter e di suo cugino Esaù, può essere la storia dei nostri nipoti. Len Colter viveva in un piccolo paese rurale degli Stati Uniti, dove per legge, dopo la distruzione, era stata proibita la costruzione di città e la diffusione del sapere nelle sue forme piú avanzate. Due generazíoní prima era caduta sulle loro città la grande Distruzione, provocata dalla conoscenza scientifica dei segreti della natura. Lo spaventoso flagello era stato interpretato dalle coscienze terrorizzate come il castigo di Dio per l’orgoglio e i peccati dell’uomo. I due giovani, spinti dal desiderio delle «cose vecchie», delle quali sentivano parlare con nostalgia dai nonni: le automobili, gli aeroplani, le case con ogni comfort, le città in una fantasmagoria di luci, e ossessionati dai discorsi sentiti di nascosto sulla esistenza di una città sopravvissuta, si mettono su di un sentiero aspro e difficile. Incontreranno l’amicizia, e la delusione, l’amore e la morte, la fame e la sete, la lotta contro le intemperie e contro la propria coscienza: ma andranno alla ricerca della città del loro sogno. Len, dal carattere piú complesso, sostiene la lotta píú aspra ed è salvato piú volte, non solo materialmente dall’amicizia di Hostetter, il mercante, che rappresenta il legame ideale tra il mondo lasciato da Len e il mondo nuovo. E sarà Hostetter che ricondurrà Len di fronte alla realtà e lo costringerà a una decisione.<