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A review by saareman
A Bad Night for Burglars by Lawrence Block
3.0
Burglar Bungles Badly
Review of the LB Productions eBook (2011) of the short story originally written in 1975 and first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine April 1977 as "Gentleman's Agreement", later collected in [b:Enough Rope|380565|Enough Rope|Lawrence Block|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1349052997l/380565._SY75_.jpg|1943969] (2002).
Although Goodreads has listed this as Bernie Rhodenbarr #0.5, Lawrence Block's wisecracking burglar does not actually appear in it. The nameless housebreaker in the short story can be seen as a precursor to the later Bernie novels where the title burglar usually finds himself caught up in a crime scene where he has to solve the mystery himself in order to clear his name.
The cover of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine April 1977 where the story first appeared, although Lawrence Block was not mentioned on the cover. Image sourced from Biblio where the complete table of contents is listed including the renamed title as "Gentleman's Agreement."
The fate of the burglar in the short story is not so fortunate however. The short story is also of curiosity interest as it was the first of Lawrence Block's writing that was bought for publication by Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, although he was not yet famous enough for his name to appear on the magazine cover as a selling point. In later printings Block has reinstated the original title of "A Bad Night for Burglars."
This reading was part of my current series re-reads and new reads of Lawrence Block's characters.
Trivia and Links
I read a considerable number of Lawrence Block books in my pre-GR and pre-reviewing days. Probably 40 or so out of the 100+ that are available. That included all of the Matt Scudder books, several of the Bernie Rhodenbarrs, several of the Evan Tanners, several of the John Kellers, a dozen or so standalones and some of the memoirs. There were even a few of the earlier pulp novels which were originally published under pseudonyms.
Lawrence Block (June 24, 1938 - ) considers himself retired these days, but still maintains an occasional newsletter with the latest issued in August 2024. He self-publishes some of his earlier works that have otherwise gone out of print, using his own LB Productions imprint. This current eBook edition of A Bad Night for Burglars is one of those.
Review of the LB Productions eBook (2011) of the short story originally written in 1975 and first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine April 1977 as "Gentleman's Agreement", later collected in [b:Enough Rope|380565|Enough Rope|Lawrence Block|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1349052997l/380565._SY75_.jpg|1943969] (2002).
“A Bad Night for Burglars” was written sometime in the fall of 1975, probably not much more than six months before I began work on Bernie Rhodenbarr’s debut in Burglars Can’t Be Choosers. I didn’t have the short story consciously in mind when I wrote the book, which seemed to grow directly out of a fantasy of mine in which I took up burglary as as alternative to writing only to break into an apartment where a murder had recently taken place. - from the Introduction by Lawrence Block.
Although Goodreads has listed this as Bernie Rhodenbarr #0.5, Lawrence Block's wisecracking burglar does not actually appear in it. The nameless housebreaker in the short story can be seen as a precursor to the later Bernie novels where the title burglar usually finds himself caught up in a crime scene where he has to solve the mystery himself in order to clear his name.
The cover of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine April 1977 where the story first appeared, although Lawrence Block was not mentioned on the cover. Image sourced from Biblio where the complete table of contents is listed including the renamed title as "Gentleman's Agreement."
The fate of the burglar in the short story is not so fortunate however. The short story is also of curiosity interest as it was the first of Lawrence Block's writing that was bought for publication by Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, although he was not yet famous enough for his name to appear on the magazine cover as a selling point. In later printings Block has reinstated the original title of "A Bad Night for Burglars."
This reading was part of my current series re-reads and new reads of Lawrence Block's characters.
Trivia and Links
I read a considerable number of Lawrence Block books in my pre-GR and pre-reviewing days. Probably 40 or so out of the 100+ that are available. That included all of the Matt Scudder books, several of the Bernie Rhodenbarrs, several of the Evan Tanners, several of the John Kellers, a dozen or so standalones and some of the memoirs. There were even a few of the earlier pulp novels which were originally published under pseudonyms.
Lawrence Block (June 24, 1938 - ) considers himself retired these days, but still maintains an occasional newsletter with the latest issued in August 2024. He self-publishes some of his earlier works that have otherwise gone out of print, using his own LB Productions imprint. This current eBook edition of A Bad Night for Burglars is one of those.