Block is fastly approaching the status of one who can do no wrong. I can't remember the last time I saw a bad review for the man. So is there a world wide conspiracy of critics that exists just to make dear, dear, Larry feel good? 'Fraid not. he actually is that good.
Sickening as it may be to mere mortals like yourself and I (I'm assuming here that my primary audience here is not composed entirely of godlike geniuses) Block appears to be able to write the austere and grim Matt Scudder books with exactly the same facility he brings to the light humour of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series, the latest of which, The Burglar In the Library, we have here under scrutiny.
Now PG Wodehouse used to worry for hours about where his characters entered rooms from, whether they could complete tasks necessary to the plot in the time allowed and a thousand other details, minor to all but the author. I have no idea whether Block suffers from the same nervousness, but the point of the anecdote is to illustrate that often what looks effortless on the page is in fact extremely hard work in the writing. There is a school of thought that feels Block is wasting his time on the Burglar books and should concentrate on the 'serious' Matt Scudder series. Personally I think comic writing of this calibre is probably bloody hard work, and that the confusion between 'serious' and 'depressing' is one that seems to haunt crime writing to a greater degree than any other genre.
I can't prove this, but I doubt the binning of the Burglar series would produce one single extra Scudder, and I for one would consider it a bad trade if it did. Hey, as things stand we can have both.
So to the Library. It is probably sufficient to say that this is a 'classic' mystery story done Bernie-style. Yes there's a body in the Library. Yes there's a McGuffin, in this case an impossibly rare Raymond Chandler first edition that Bernie is ... interested in. So Bernie, along with Carolyn and Raffles the cat head off for a weekend at Cuttleford House an 'English-style' inn. The books of course is ensconced somewhere in the library of Cuttleford House. Unfortunately Bernie finds body not books ... and then they're snowed in.
Block writes like an angel, and keeps you laughing throughout. Not belly laughs, although there are some of those, more a constant bubbling chuckle that threatens to explode at any moment. This is pure joy.
Can I just say in closing what at first rate production No Exit Press have made of this book. The whole book has a quality feel to it, from the high quality paper stock and the satisfactorily thick end papers to the red bookmark ribbon. The cover, as is a tradition with No Exit, has no discernable connection with either the plot of the characters, but you can't have everything.
There are not many writers of Block's ability in the world.
