The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams

By: Lawrence Block

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

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 percent 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 cards, Bernie’s stuck with a worthless alibi since he was busy burgling a different apartment at the time…one that happened to contain a dead body locked inside a bathroom.

So Bernie has a dilemma. He can trade a burglary charge for a murder rap. Or he can shuffle all the cards himself and try to find the joker in the deck—someone, perhaps, who believes that homicide is the real Great American Pastime.

©1994 Lawrence Block (P)1999 Recorded Books

This is simply an awesome Series

Would you listen to The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams again? Why?

Absolutely. It is a great performance

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bernie, he is funny

What does Richard Ferrone bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Just a great performance hits all of the beats

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It gave me that big a hah! moment

Any additional comments?

Great series read them all.

'Nuther Great Bernie...!!!!

Such a fun series. Masterful writing and superlative narration. A bona fide WTF is going on here sometimes hilarious very NYC tale. Lots of plot stumpers with a fine and fitting finale wrapping up with a detailed denoument , that as Caroline remarks once again is quite like Nero Wolf. Bernie rocks🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Very good!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

yes, keeps you intrested all the way.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

mostly, intresting well ploted

Have you listened to any of Richard Ferrone???s other performances before? How does this one compare?

yes

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

do not know

Any additional comments?

I have always liked the authors books!

Sue Grafton fell over laughing!

bad puns, Bernie Rhodenbarr, snarky, amateur sleuth, murder, NYC, law enforcement

I laughed myself silly over the mangling of Sue Grafton titles! Bernie really tried not to go back to burglary, but it happened anyway. And I got to learn more about used book pricing and the insane prices of some vintage baseball cards. The publisher's blurb gives hints and there is no need for spoilers, just enjoy the unraveling of the mystery!
Richard Ferrone continues to be perfect as narrator for this series.

Fun!

One again, clever, entertaining, full of delightful characters and complex plot. Always a good read — and re-read

Not bad. A decent rainy day beach read

It's a short book with a somewhat dated (early 1990s) and average storyline. The dialogue is good, but there's a bit too much of it ... it distracts from the story. At the end, the lead character 'Bernie' has everyone in the room and explains/unravels the mystery. It reminded me of an old Agatha Christie book, that stuff just isn't done anymore, and for good reason.

Love Bernie

If you like Lawrence Block's Bernie, you will love this story. John in Tampa

This is my favorite Bernie Rhodenbarr

This is my favorite of this series, not because the mystery is any better -- and let's face it, we really don't read Bernie for the mysteries. I love it because the introduction of Raffles the cat adds a whole new dimension to the characters of Bernie and Carolyn. As well as some really funny bits about cat owners in general and women cat owners in particular!

I read all of the Burglar books a number of years ago, and like many fans of this series, always hoped that Lawrence Block would write at least one more. Now a new one is coming out, so I thought I would listen to them all this time around. Block used to narrate these himself, but I definitely like the new narrator's voice. He does great character voices, which is so important for this series, which is all characters.

Well done!

Good thing this wasn't my first Lawrence Block.

I'm not sure what happened here with this book and Mr. Block's writing. Maybe he was being pressured by his publisher to crank out a book and could only come up with a short story, or maybe the publisher needed more pages or something but half of this book absolutely should have been edited out. Several times I stopped and almost returned the book for my credit back. There were so many nonsensical, unnecessary and annoying conversations that seriously detract from this story. They must just be page filler because they do absolutely nothing but annoy. It's like being stuck in the car as a designated driver when you are sober and your drunk friends won't shut up as they ramble on about nothing and in their drunken stupor think they are being profound or witty but are anything from it.

If all the inane conversations were edited out it wasn't a bad story but would have been half the length.