Block fans who feared the Bernie Rhodenbarr series was finished will rejoice to see that the bookseller-thief lives to steal again! All the usual suspects are back—Bernie; his lesbian sidekick, Carolyn; and his nemesis/friend, NYPD cop Ray Kirschbaum—and all are in fine fettle. The plot wanders a bit—from a Fitzgerald manuscript through a dead dowager and on to a whole bunch of rare buttons—but if it’s the charismatic Bernie doing the wandering (and peppering his peregrinations with puns of the biblio variety), who really cares? Certainly not anyone who has made Bernie’s acquaintance in any of his 10 previous adventures. And, besides, if the multistranded plot seems to be unraveling along the way, it makes the signature finale (borrowed, of course, from Nero Wolfe), when Bernie gathers all the suspects at his bookstore and reveals who dun what, all the more satisfying. — Bill Ott

Click here to read the review online (subscription required)