The Bernie Rhodenbarr mysteries are caper books, adventures that begin with a plan involving action and suspense and complex effort to attain some kind of treasure or score. The caper is usually one of Bernie's burglaries, and the plan is complicated further when a villain tries to implicate Bernie in a crime he did not perpetrate, usually a murder. To extricate himself, Bernie has to solve the case, manufacture evidence, or at least point out to the police where to look for the relevant evidence. A further complication is the pressure put on Bernie by Ray, the best cop money can buy, to get Bernie to steal for him (for example, a fur coat for Ray's wife) or to give Ray a cut, usually of a score that Bernie has not made. Ray must be appeased, paid off, and usually given credit for the police case that Bernie...