Rating: 
Summary: Must reading for Bogart fans
Review: Bernie may be too generous for his own good in Lawrence Block's seventh Burglar Who..." series. There are many more characters in this fast paced novel, "The Burglar who Thought He Was Bogart." Bernie is over obsessed in attending a Bogart film festival. Night after night he goes to the movies. It is here he first meets Ilona who is a principal player in this novel. Lawrence Block must be a Bogart fan as well. This is evident with the dialog, which is reminiscent of Bogart films such as "Casablanca," New characters are crisp, colorful and convincing. Max Fiddler; a New York can driver appears to pick Bernie up on more than one occasion. (I wonder what the odds are of this happening in NY?) I hope Fiddler returns in a future book. Old characters from pervious novels are mentioned. Carolyn Kaiser, his best friend who runs the Poodle Parlor, a dog grooming place and Ray Kirschmann the best cop money can buy also play important roles as they have in the past. Once again Bernie the burglar turns sleuth to solve the murders. After all what would a " Burglar Who" book be without a murder or two. I am looking forward to the eighth book, "The Burglar in the Library." When I do the review will appear here along with the other Bernie Rhodenbarr books.
Rating:
Summary: Must reading for Bogart fans
Review: Bernie may be too generous for his own good in Lawrence Block's seventh Burglar Who..." series. There are many more characters in this fast paced novel, "The Burglar who Thought He Was Bogart." Bernie is over obsessed in attending a Bogart film festival. Night after night he goes to the movies. It is here he first meets Ilona who is a principal player in this novel. Lawrence Block must be a Bogart fan as well. This is evident with the dialog, which is reminiscent of Bogart films such as "Casablanca," New characters are crisp, colorful and convincing. Max Fiddler; a New York can driver appears to pick Bernie up on more than one occasion. (I wonder what the odds are of this happening in NY?) I hope Fiddler returns in a future book. Old characters from pervious novels are mentioned. Carolyn Kaiser, his best friend who runs the Poodle Parlor, a dog grooming place and Ray Kirschmann the best cop money can buy also play important roles as they have in the past. Once again Bernie the burglar turns sleuth to solve the murders. After all what would a " Burglar Who" book be without a murder or two. I am looking forward to the eighth book, "The Burglar in the Library." When I do the review will appear here along with the other Bernie Rhodenbarr books.
Rating: 
Summary: It Doesn't Really Amount To A Hill of Beans
Review: Bernie Rhodenbarr, burglar extraordinaire is recruited by the friend of an old acquaintance to break into an apartment to steal some documents. Unfortunately, he is interrupted during the attempt and the documents disappear. When murdered bodies begin showing up along with mysterious visitors, both threatening and friendly, Bernie finds himself drawn into a mystery whose origins come from an unknown European country.While it had it's amusing moments, I thought the plot became very convoluted and was bogged down by a bewildering number of characters. I was also a little disappointed with the explanation for the murders and for the interest in the object that Bernie was meant to steal. All in all, it felt a bit anti-climactic. Humorous references are made to Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone series throughout the book with Block making up names for a new book that had supposedly just been released. 'I is for Claudius' was my favourite title.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best Bernie book, but still worth reading
Review: For those days when you want something nice and light, and not too challenging then this book is the ticket. The main character, Bernie, is very likable, witty and yes, charming. Other characters abound that are interesting, but weakness lies with the bad guys, who seem to pop out of nowhere at the end of the book in order to straighten out the plot. What was particularly striking about this novel was that the cop (who was investigating Bernie) had feet of clay. This was very surprising. I will not say anymore so that readers will not be told an interesting facet of the plot. In conclusion, this is a nice little book to settle down with when you want to put your brain in neutral (and there is nothing wrong with doing that) and be pleasantly entertained.
Rating:
Summary: Nice Brain Candy
Review: For those days when you want something nice and light, and not too challenging then this book is the ticket. The main character, Bernie, is very likable, witty and yes, charming. Other characters abound that are interesting, but weakness lies with the bad guys, who seem to pop out of nowhere at the end of the book in order to straighten out the plot. What was particularly striking about this novel was that the cop (who was investigating Bernie) had feet of clay. This was very surprising. I will not say anymore so that readers will not be told an interesting facet of the plot. In conclusion, this is a nice little book to settle down with when you want to put your brain in neutral (and there is nothing wrong with doing that) and be pleasantly entertained.
Rating:
Summary: Not one of his best.
Review: I think Larry tried to fit in a few too many formulae in this one. It seemed a bit strained to me.
Rating: 
Summary: Play it again, Bear-naaard
Review: If you want a light-hearted mystery full of intellectual stimulation, check out the burglar series. This excellent addition puts our hero into an Eastern European conspiracy to re-carve maps that might not have been settled right after World War I. Bernie is never seriously in danger, and the police are not about to arrest him, but nevertheless, he feels compelled to solve the puzzle, if only for the sake of the the mysterious Ilona. Bernie assembles the suspects into his bookstore for a showdown reminiscent of Nero Wolfe in his top form.
Rating:
Summary: Play it again, Bear-naaard
Review: If you want a light-hearted mystery full of intellectual stimulation, check out the burglar series. This excellent addition puts our hero into an Eastern European conspiracy to re-carve maps that might not have been settled right after World War I. Bernie is never seriously in danger, and the police are not about to arrest him, but nevertheless, he feels compelled to solve the puzzle, if only for the sake of the the mysterious Ilona. Bernie assembles the suspects into his bookstore for a showdown reminiscent of Nero Wolfe in his top form.
Rating: 
Summary: Never Again
Review: It takes a lot of time (or it seams that way) to get through this book. I do not know what slowed me down more, the disjointed writing or the plot that seamed to just be thrown together. I only made it about half way into the book. I thought there was going to be a mystery here somewhere - maybe that is the mystery. I got to think after awhile that the author was leaving out about every third sentence, it just made that little sense. There are many better books out there.
Rating:
Summary: Never Again
Review: It takes a lot of time (or it seams that way) to get through this book. I do not know what slowed me down more, the disjointed writing or the plot that seamed to just be thrown together. I only made it about half way into the book. I thought there was going to be a mystery here somewhere - maybe that is the mystery. I got to think after awhile that the author was leaving out about every third sentence, it just made that little sense. There are many better books out there.
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