Bookseller Bernie Rhodenbarr's in love-with an exotic Eastern European beauty who shares his obsession with Humphrey Bogart movies. He's in heaven, munching popcorn with his new amour every night at a Bogart Film Festival-until their Casablanca-esque idyll is cut short by his other secret passion: burglary. When he's hired to pilfer a portfolio of valuable documents from a Park Avenue apartment, Bernie can hardly refuse. But the occupant's early return...

Bernie Rhodenbarr is actually trying to earn an honest living. It's been an entire year since he's entered anyone's abode illegally to help himself to their valuables. But now an unscrupulous landlord's threat to increase Bernie's rent by 1,000% is driving the bookseller and reformed burglar back to a life of crime - though, in all fairness, it's a very short trip. And when the cops wrongly accuse him of stealing a priceless collection of baseball...

Bernie Rhodenbarr is a personable chap, a good neighbor, a passable poker player. His chosen profession, however, might not sit well with some. Bernie is a burglar, a good one, effortlessly lifting valuables from the not-so-well-protected abodes of well-to-do New Yorkers like a modern-day Robin Hood. (The poor, as Bernie would be the first to tell you, alas, have nothing worth stealing.) He's not perfect, however; he occasionally makes mistakes....

It's not that used bookstore owner and part-time burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr believes the less legal of his two professions is particularly ethical. (It is, however, a rush, and he is very good at it. ) He just thinks it's unfair to face a prison term for his legitimate activities. After appraising the worth of a rich man's library -- conveniently leaving his fingerprints everywhere in the process -- Bernie finds he's the cops' prime suspect when his...

A philosophical yet practical gentleman, Bernie Rhodenbarr possesses many admirable qualities: charm, intelligence, sparkling wit, and unwavering loyalty. Of course, he also has this special talent and a taste for life's finer things. So he's more than willing to perform some vengeful larceny for a friend -- ripping off a smarmy, particularly deserving plastic surgeon -- for fun and a very tidy profit. But during a practice run at another address,...

A partir de su debut en 1977, Bernie Rhodenbarr se ha ganado la entusiasta admiración de un público internacional cada vez más numeroso. Este caballero, con su corazón ligero y sus dedos más ligeros aún, cuyos talentos detectivescos lo sacan de los apuros en que lo meten sus habilidades de ladrón, se roba de paso los corazones y las mentes de los lectores. «Los ladrones no pueden escoger» es su primera aparición.

For the first time ever, all of Bernie's short-form appearances in one complete volume - plus two new, unpublished pieces. In all of mystery fiction, there has never been a character like Bernie--and in this book, he demonstrates all the charm and wit and kleptophilic ingenuity that has made two generations of readers welcome their favourite burglar into their homes.

Suppose you're Bernie Rhodenbarr. You've got a dream job, running your own cozy secondhand bookstore, complete with Raffles, your caudally challenged cat. It's in Greenwich Village, and your best friend's dog grooming salon is two doors away, and the two of you lunch together and meet for drinks after work. And you've got another way to make a buck. Every once in a while you put your conscience on the shelf and let yourself into someone else's residence,...