ABOUT THE BOOK

Introducing Bernie Rhodenbarr, N.Y.C.'s prince of thieves - who really should have known better! When the mysterious pear shaped man with a lot of uncomfortably accurate information about Bernie and his career offered him five big ones to liberate a blue leather box - unopened - from an East Side apartment, it would have been a good time to plead a previous engagement..but times were tough.

Everything was straightforward - the box was where it should have been but before the liberation took place , two men in blue coats turned up. Still all was not lost, there was always a way to work things out...that was before they discovered the body in the bedroom and Bernie decided to leg it.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

"Fast, Funny, Terrific" - Ed McBain

"Wonderfully detailed and inspiring writing" - The London Guardian

"An incorrigibly adorable thief" - New York Times

"Excellent N.Y. background and unusual characters make Block a detective writer to savour" - London Daily Mirror