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Bernie Rhodenbarr #5.7
The Burglar Who Dropped in on Elvis
Mystery story "The burglar who dropped in on Elvis." Narrated by Bruce Weitz. Bruce Weitz reads with a slick, dark voice that's perfect for these sordid tales. "The Merciful Angel of Death."
First published April 1, 1999
About the author
Lawrence Block
742 books3,062 followersLawrence Block has been writing crime, mystery, and suspense fiction for more than half a century. He has published in excess (oh, wretched excess!) of 100 books, and no end of short stories.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 23, 2011
I am so very grateful to Lawrence Block for making these Burglar short stories available as eBooks. This one was especially fun. Bernie Rhodenbarr, Elvis, a tabloid newspaper, and the wonderful Carolyn all in a few pages. What could be better? Well, a few more pages, but I'm just greedy. Excellent twist, but I had it figured out this time. I guess reading three burglar short stories in one weekend got me primed. Anyway thank you Mr. Block. I bought this one on the Nook store and read it with Nook for the iPad, which had a few page breaks missing, but that didn't present too much of a challenge. I loved it.
February 17, 2012
Good short stories but not long enough. Hope he writes more full novels about Bernie.
May 6, 2022
A pretty fun short story slotted between #5 and #6.
Bernie is hired by Holly Danahy, a writer from the tabloid Weekly Galaxy. She has a proposition for him. Graceland is visited by millions of fans every year but no one has ever seen the second floor, even the tour guides.
The tabloid is willing to pay $25k for Bernie to sneak in and take photos of the second floor which the Galaxy will publish. Holly figures that since Bernie is a (retired) burglar, he can get into any residence. And money is no object.
So she flies them both to Memphis and books a Howard Johnson close to Graceland. Bernies scopes out the mansion, does the background work and figures out the way to get upstairs.
Spoilers below - do not read for any reason if you don't want this spoiled.
First he hires a bunch of actors to create diversions during a tour: such as a fan bull rushing up the stairs, and a person having a medical emergency, etc. Meanwhile he hires a helicopter to drop him on to the roof while this is going on.
Later, he finds Holly at the hotel to tell her that it's done. He has an entire film roll of shots of the second floor. She is ecstatic and pays full price.
I'm not kidding, don't read below this because I spoil the whole story.
When he gets back to NY he tells Carolyn what really happened. He didn't get into the second floor. He actually just hired an interior decorator to mock up a house to take the photos. Since no one has ever seen the second floor, no one will know what it looks like anyway.
It was a fun book and a quick read. I'm highly enjoying this series at the halfway point.
Bernie is hired by Holly Danahy, a writer from the tabloid Weekly Galaxy. She has a proposition for him. Graceland is visited by millions of fans every year but no one has ever seen the second floor, even the tour guides.
The tabloid is willing to pay $25k for Bernie to sneak in and take photos of the second floor which the Galaxy will publish. Holly figures that since Bernie is a (retired) burglar, he can get into any residence. And money is no object.
So she flies them both to Memphis and books a Howard Johnson close to Graceland. Bernies scopes out the mansion, does the background work and figures out the way to get upstairs.
Spoilers below - do not read for any reason if you don't want this spoiled.
First he hires a bunch of actors to create diversions during a tour: such as a fan bull rushing up the stairs, and a person having a medical emergency, etc. Meanwhile he hires a helicopter to drop him on to the roof while this is going on.
Later, he finds Holly at the hotel to tell her that it's done. He has an entire film roll of shots of the second floor. She is ecstatic and pays full price.
I'm not kidding, don't read below this because I spoil the whole story.
When he gets back to NY he tells Carolyn what really happened. He didn't get into the second floor. He actually just hired an interior decorator to mock up a house to take the photos. Since no one has ever seen the second floor, no one will know what it looks like anyway.
It was a fun book and a quick read. I'm highly enjoying this series at the halfway point.
May 20, 2026
This is not a book - it is a short story. Our favorite burglar/book dealer is approached by a reporter for a tabloid newspaper (you know the kind - the ones with aliens on the cover and the like). She wants to hire Bernie Rhondenbarr to sneak into the upstairs of Graceland in Memphis and take photos of the forbidden bedroom of Elvis Presley. She wants to hire a burglar because she is sure only someone with his skills can defeat the security that keeps anyone from going upstairs. The payday is too much to pass up and the challenge too delicious. So, off the Graceland with our decidedly New Yorker Bernie. He does indeed come up with an ingenious plan to get the desired photos. I won't spoil the trick but it's pretty clever.
July 27, 2025
If you have not read Lawrence Block’s “Burglar Series,” you have a treat ahead. I discovered and read these books some years ago, and I check from time to time to see if block has written any new ones. That’s why I chose to read this short story which presents a bit of Bernie’s charm and a cute ending. I have tried to read blocks other series with Matthew Cudahy, but it does not have the same appeal for me. I highly recommend the Burglar Series!
December 2, 2018
The Burglar Who is approached by a reporter from a sleazy rag newspaper to overcome all the security at Graceland and shoot photos of the forbidden second floor. He not only gets paid for it but has great fun using the paper's money to hire folks to provide lots of distractions. That's all I'm saying, no spoilers, read it for yourself!
February 22, 2025
A tabloid reporter hires Bernie to break into Graceland to take infrared pictures of Elvis’s bedroom. Why aren’t tourists allowed to visit it? Does the big guy’s ghost haunt the place? Is he alive and still watching TV up there? 3,5
November 23, 2019
Another clever short story by Lawrence Block
July 19, 2020
This is a very short story which is included in 'The Burglar on the Prowl' by the same author.
January 23, 2021
A cute and very short story that is available in the collection Some Days You Get the Bear.
September 3, 2021
A clever short story that doesn't go as expected.
December 19, 2021
Another clever tale of Bernie solving a problem.
June 13, 2023
brief but very clever
August 1, 2023
A very short story, but quite entertaining.
June 21, 2020
Short & good.
May 26, 2023
It’s that time of year when, in order to catch up on my Reading Challenge, I read a bunch from my short form to-read list to boost my numbers. This one finds our favorite gentleman burglar from a bygone age asked to commit the impossible break-in. A fun read, but missing the critical scenes where Bernie actually commits the burglary.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 28, 2013
I've read all of Lawrence Block's Burglar series more than once. Bernie Rhodenbaar is a great creation -- funny, clever and engaging to the last page. Just discovered this and one other short story I didn't know existed. Just as good as the long fiction.
January 24, 2014
You can't fox this man! Bernie finds a way to get photos from forbidden parts of Graceland, satisfy the pushy female reporter who'd put him on the job, earn a packet from the tabloid who'd print the pix, and keep up with Carolyn, all in the space of a few pages. Delightful!
August 12, 2016
Short but sweet
Short story or not, a Bernie Rhodenbarr story never disappoints. The dialogue is always snappy and the plot is always fun. Bernie pulls a fast one that leaves the reader smiling at the end.
Short story or not, a Bernie Rhodenbarr story never disappoints. The dialogue is always snappy and the plot is always fun. Bernie pulls a fast one that leaves the reader smiling at the end.
Want to Read
September 27, 2009AKA: Sheldon Lord, Jill Emerson, Paul Kavanaugh, Chip Harrison, Lawrence Block
September 15, 2011
A really good Bernie short story. Who better than Bernie to get a picture of the upstairs of Graceland?
September 15, 2012
This was a short story featuring Bernie from The Burglar series. A new book is due out 12/25. Can't wait.
October 1, 2012
This ebook was a lot shorter than I expected. it's been a long time since I finished all the Bernie Rhodenbarr books so it was good to read a book about Bernie again even if it was short.
August 9, 2013
Lawrence Block's burglar series keeps me laughing and intrigued. Best dialogue since Dashiell Hammett.
November 4, 2013
Great adventure with Bernie Rhodenbarr. Block always surprises and delights.
January 29, 2019
Funniest of the three Bernie short stories Block's put out as ebooks. Not really a mystery, but should entertain Bernie's fans.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews