I found this good-condition paperback in the swap shop of Nashua's Four Hills landfill/recycle center. I don't think I've read any of Block's books about this character before; may give this one a try...

[Another of my backlogged reviews; I think I read this book some time in the fall of 2005.]

Having stumbled across this book at the recycling center, I gave it a try - and am now a confirmed fan of Block's burglar-turned-bookseller, Bernie Rhodenbarr. (I suspect that this may be the best book of the series, but that still leaves room for the others to be enjoyable.) In this one, Bernie - who is a legitimate bookseller who happens to dabble in a bit of burglary on the side for old time's sake - is anticipating a cozy weekend in a country inn with his latest flame, only to find that the flame has up and married someone else and dropped Bernie flat. So he invites his pal Carolyn to go with him instead - and brings his big grey Manx cat, Raffles, as well.

While he had intended the weekend to include some romance with the now-departed girlfriend, his main intent was to hunt for a book with an extremely rare pair of autographs, rumored to be somewhere in the inn's library and quite unknown to the owners. Carolyn, who knows about his less-than-legal sideline, is willing to help out if need be (and has no objection to flirting with any cute housemaids they might encounter), so it looks as though they're all set. Ha!

They reach the inn in the middle of a snowstorm, and (surprise!) discover that they and the other guests are snowed in and incommunicado - the phones are out, there's no cell coverage, and the only bridge has collapsed. Or was it ... sabotage? [Of course it was. This book takes Every Single Convention from the sub-genre of cozy-country-house mysteries and tosses 'em in - with the extra kicker that Bernie and Carolyn are very well aware of those conventions and are faced with wondering whether, when caught up in a clearly literary-style plot, one should behave as the characters in the books do or try to be logical about it. Much fun is had on this point!]

Bodies begin to turn up, one by one, so the "and then there were none" scenario is clearly in force. The book that Bernie came for was in fact present, but before he could find the time to nab it, it disappeared from the shelves. And there's another surprise among the guests... well, of course there is. What trapped-in-a-country-house scenario doesn't involve some guest who knew another from some time back?

Will Bernie and Carolyn survive the weekend? Solve the murders? Find the book? What do you think? But they way they do all this is wonderful fun, with little in-jokes between the author and the reader to add to the amusement value. I kept laughing out loud while reading this book, always a good sign - recommended!

I'm offering this for a bookray - see the forum post here.

Bookray/ring instructions:

When you receive the book, please journal it, and PM the next person in line for their address so you'll have it ready when you've finished the book.

Note: even if you've sent books to that person before, please PM them before mailing this one, to confirm that the address is correct and that they're able to take on a bookring book at this time.

Try and read the book promptly - ideally, within a month of receiving it. (If you expect to take longer, you can request to be put at the end of the list. If you find you're swamped with other books when the person before you contacts you about the bookring, you can ask to be skipped, and then let me know whether you'd like to be moved down the list or dropped entirely. If you receive the book and find it's taking longer than you'd planned to get through it, I'd appreciate an update in its journal entries or on your profile, just to let me and the other participants know you haven't forgotten it.)

When you're ready to pass the book along, please make another journal entry containing your comments about the book and stating where you've sent it, and set the book's status code to "traveling". [If you find that you're having problems contacting the next person in line, or don't think you can manage to mail the book as originally agreed, please let me know; I'll be glad to try to work something out.]

***

Participants, in mailing order:

rebeccaljames [Ohio]
emmagoldmanzine [Pennsylvania]
katintheboots [California]
eicuthbertson [Canada]
chich [France]

Controlled release:

I'm sending this to BCer rebeccaljames in Ohio to kick off the bookring. Hope you enjoy it!

I just got back from vacation today and this book was in my mailbox. I have a couple of books before it, so I should be able to get to it in a couple of weeks.

I finished reading this book today. I enjoyed reading it very much. Thank you for sharing. I will mail to emmagoldmanzine as soon as I receive an address.

I mailed this out today.

The book arrived today. I'm looking forward to reading it. I'm almost done with one book and will start on this one by this weekend at the latest.

Well I finished the book tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the characters as well as the harkening back to the old English mysteries. I thought it was the right combination of mystery and life story, which sometimes is not the case. I learned just enough about the main characters to add to the story line. I also want to go stay at Cuttleford house. It sounds like fun- minus the dead bodies. Thanks for sharing the book. I’m going to have to find more books about Bernie the burglar turned bookseller.

This is off to catintheboots Wed. or Thurs, whichever day I decide to brave the holiday post office frenzy with all my mail:)

Bookrings travel in packs, I tell you. I'm reading one currently, but will start this one as soon as possible because I really enjoy the Bernie Rhodenbarr series.

I finished this on New Year's Eve, which I spent, fittingly enough, with friends in a cabin up in the Sierras, surrounded by several feet of snow. (This setting lead to a rousing discussion of were we a horror movie, who would die and in what order. It was determined that I would tie someone else in dying second, but two of the seven of us would survive.) Anyways, I always enjoy tales that play with story-telling conventions, and this story was no exception. Bernie is always great fun, and his placement in an English cozy-type mystery story makes for excellent reading.

Post offices (indeed, all US government offices) are closed tomorrow in honor of former President Ford's funeral, so I will send this to eicuthbertson later this week.

I sent this to eicuthbertson this evening via letter-post airmail, so it should arrive in 7-10 days.

Now received. Thanks!
I'll read this one as fast as I can & get it on its way to chich in France.

Bernie is my favourite bookseller-burglar-detective. Poor Bernie...things seldom go his way. He'd be perfect for me, except for the Mel Torme thing...

I enjoyed this book, think it's the best so far, with all the plays on bookselling, burglary, famous 'hard-boiled' authors & the conventions of the English mystery. And, of course, there's a cat, an isolated and mysterious old house & even a colonel in the library, what!

It's finally here!! I was afraid it might have gotten lost but it just took some time to swim across the ocean:)Thanks a lot for passing it on eicuthbertson! Thanks for the lovely postcard too:)

This is one of two rings I received today but I should be able to read it within the next month. Thanks for sharing GoryDetails!

What a fun read! I'd never heard of Bernie Rhodenbarr before joining this ray but this definitely won't be the last I read of him:) I particularly liked the characters and enjoyed the way Lawrence Block plays around with the "English countryside-type mystery". Thanks for sharing this book GoryDetails !

Since I'm the last person on the list, I've decided to try and keep the ray going. Let's see if I can find more readers for this entertaining mystery:)

Continuing BookRay, PM me if you want to join!

Shipping order:
1) bilbi, France, Euro shipping
2) Atenea-Nike, Spain, Euro shipping
3) ziggythecat, UK, UK shipping.
4) dogsapples, UK, UK shipping.
5) Mastulela, UK, can ship anywhere. --> asked to be skipped
6) bsliv1219, US (Ohio), can ship anywhere.
7) silvia-pco, Portugal, Euro shipping. **current location**


...you?



---------------------------------------
BookRay Recommendations:
• make a journal entry when you receive the book so everyone knows it has safely arrived
• try to read it within a month
• ask the next on the list for his/her address
• make a journal entry when finished, telling us what you thought - did you like it? Did you think it was well-written?
• wrap it up well and send it to on

Please PM me in case of any problems/unforseen delay. If you are experiencing an RBC (Reading Backlog Crisis) or no longer wish to read the book, let me know and I will move/remove you down/off the list.

Hint: Ask for the address of the next on the list before you have finished reading; sometimes it takes a while before you get a reply. Some people don't get PM's. You may want to look for an e-mail address on their profile, or leave an ISO message on the forum. If the person doesn't respond within 7-10 days (use your judgement), please PM the next person, and then me, so I can update the bookring list.

**Cheapest postage rate is fine**

Happy reading everyone!

Here we go!

Book sent to bilbi today, enjoy!

Received today ! Just a book to read before starting with this one.
As soon as there are books involved I can say that the read will be a great one ;-)
And I'm a fan of Bernieand his friend, Carolyn !

Thanks for sharing this \o/

I forget to say that it will the first of this series that I will read in English !

This book was very refreshing ! It's 30 °C outside (86 °F) !!! It's a summer-like spring ;-)
I love Bernie and Carolyn. I kept asking myself where the book was although there was a rather active murderer /o
I'm a librarian and no, there is no burglar in my library... I hope ;-o

Here's the perfect thing to say about my job : "I don't have magical powers. What I do is eyes that look at books all day long. I can identify hundreds of books, maybe thousands, on the basis of a quick glimpse from the other side of the room. I probably haven't read it and I may not know the first thing about the contents, but I can tell you the title and author and who published it."

I received the book on friday, but I haven't been able to make a journal entry until today (busy weekend), and by now I ahve already read it (reading the book is one of the things I've busied myself with this weekend ;) ).

All Bernie mysteries are simply wonderful, and this one is even better than average. It starts as a typical Agatha Christie mystery, but there's a Raymond Chandler book involved, so in the end there's quite a mixture of genres - is it a quaint english murder or a brutal american affair?

I just received a PM from Atenea-Nike saying she'd mailed the book to ziggythecat last Monday (June 18). I hope it makes to the UK soon:)

This arrived last week, thanks :o) Sorry for the delay in journalling, dh pinched it to read & I've just realised I didn't do its J.E. before he took it, oops.

I'll start it tomorrow as i'm hoping it will be an antidote to the mind-numbingly bad Patricia Cornwell book I've nearly got through - never again, lol.

I'd not picked up anything by Lawrence Block before, but found this a thoroughly enjoyable, light-hearted read and will certainly look out for more in future. Made me giggle (which I needed after the previous book - see last JE!).

Thanks for sharing.

Arrived safely on Friday, sorry haven''t been able to journal before now. Thank you very much ziggythecat, I''m looking forward to reading this. Will be starting as soon as I''ve finished current book which won''t be long.

Well I''ve enjoyed reading this fun book although I don''t normally like this style of writing - where it is mostly conversation. Thank you very much for sharing it. It will be going to Mastulela as soon as I have her address.

Mastulela has no need for the book now as she has read another copy so waiting for address of bsliv1219 before sending on.

Sending this off to bsliv1219 today - hope you enjoy it!

This book came in the mail today. Can't wait to read it. I love this series!
I'll read it quick and send it out by the end of the week. It's getting a little bit shabby so I am going to add some tape. It has a long way to go when it leaves me.

This book was fun. Thanks for including me. I sent the book off to Portugal today. Enjoy, Silvia-pco.

It's here! Thanks. As I'm the last one in the list, probably I'll take a bit longer to read this one, but I'll keep you informed ;)