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Cover of The Burglar in the Library

Mystery · 1997 · PG-13

The Burglar in the Library

by Lawrence Block

A weekend at a country inn. A rare book disappears. Then the snow comes, and someone is found dead.

For14+GenreMysteryLength324 pagesRead time~8.5 hours

This analysis was generated by AI from publicly available reader reviews, literary criticism, and book discussions. It has not been verified by a BookLens community reviewer and may contain errors. Be the first to verify →

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What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.

Violence

Some

A murder at a country inn; the investigation has a classic closed-room atmosphere

Language

Barely any

Mild language

Sexual Content

Barely any

Mild content

Substance Use

Barely any

Social drinking

Emotional Intensity

Some

The comedy of a burglar who commits crimes in the course of investigating a crime; the meta-pleasure of a mystery that is explicitly aware of its genre

What this book is about

Bernie Rhodenbarr — bookseller by day, burglar by night — takes a weekend trip to a charming country inn in the Berkshires with his girlfriend, planning to steal a rare copy of Raymond Chandler's 'The Big Sleep' from a fellow guest. The snow traps everyone, and when a body is discovered, Bernie becomes the obvious suspect and has to solve the murder to save himself. Lawrence Block's eighth Rhodenbarr novel is a knowing homage to the classic closed-room mystery — the country house setting, the snowed-in suspects, the amateur detective — played with the series' characteristic wit.

Notes for sensitive readers

Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.

eighth Bernie Rhodenbarr novel; homage to classic closed-room mysteries

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