Order of Book Series
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Bernie Rhodenbarr Books in Order

Bernie Rhodenbarr by Lawrence Block contains 18 books, published between 1977 and 2022. The first book is Burglars Can't Be Choosers (1977) and the newest is The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown (2022). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
18
Published
1977–2022
Confirmed
18 of 18 titles
Pages on record
3,684 in 11 of 18 books
Reading time
61–92 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 3,684 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 11 of 18 titles with a page count on record.

See all 18 books in order Printable Bernie Rhodenbarr checklist

Bernie Rhodenbarr is a thief at the centre of Lawrence Block's New York mystery series. Burglars Can't Be Choosers (1977) opens 18 books whose titles mostly begin The Burglar Who, Liked to Quote Kipling, Studied Spinoza, Painted Like Mondrian, Thought He Was Bogart. Murder, criminals and hard-boiled detective plots fill the subject tags. The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown (2022) is the most recent entry, and nothing has followed it.

How many Bernie Rhodenbarr books are there?

Bernie Rhodenbarr has 18 books, released between 1977 and 2022.

Bernie Rhodenbarr Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 18 Bernie Rhodenbarr books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of Burglars Can't Be Choosers by Lawrence Block, book 1 of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series (1977)
  2. Cover of The Burglar in the Closet by Lawrence Block, book 2 of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series (1978)
  3. Cover of The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling by Lawrence Block, book 3 of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series (1979)
  4. Cover of The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza by Lawrence Block, book 4 of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series (1980)
  5. Cover of The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian by Lawrence Block, book 5 of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series (1983)
  6. Cover of The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams by Lawrence Block, book 7 of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series (1994)
  7. Cover of The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart by Lawrence Block, book 9 of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series (1995)
  8. Cover of The Burglar in the Library by Lawrence Block, book 10 of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series (1997)
  9. Cover of The Burglar in the Rye by Lawrence Block, book 11 of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series (1998)
  10. Cover of The Burglar Who Dropped in on Elvis by Lawrence Block, book 12 of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series (1999)
  11. Cover of The Burglar on the Prowl by Lawrence Block, book 13 of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series (2001)
  1. 1
    Burglars Can't Be Choosers1977 · 320 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1977320
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    The Burglar in the Closet1978 · 290 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1978290
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling1979 · 304 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1979304
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza1980 · 320 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1980320
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian1983 · 336 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1983336
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Like a Thief in the Night1983 · confirmed 3/4
    1983–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams1994 · 384 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1994384
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    The Burglar Takes a Cat1994 · confirmed 3/4
    1994–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart1995 · 400 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1995400
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    The Burglar in the Library1997 · 400 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1997400
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    The Burglar in the Rye1998 · 321 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1998321
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    The Burglar Who Dropped in on Elvis1999 · confirmed 3/4
    1999–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    The Burglar on the Prowl2001 · 369 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2001369
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    The Burglar Who Smelled Smoke2011 · confirmed 3/4
    2011–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    A Bad Night for Burglars2011 · confirmed 3/4
    2011–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons2013 · 240 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2013240
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    The Burglar in Short Order2020 · confirmed 3/4
    2020–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown2022 · confirmed 3/4
    2022–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Is there a chronological order for Bernie Rhodenbarr?

No separate chronological order is on record for Bernie Rhodenbarr, because none of the book listings this catalogue draws on publishes one; the publication order above is the only order given.

Do you have to read Bernie Rhodenbarr books in order?

You should read the Bernie Rhodenbarr books in publication order, the order of the numbered table above. The catalogue does not record whether each Bernie Rhodenbarr book also stands alone.

Where to start with Bernie Rhodenbarr

Start with Burglars Can't Be Choosers (1977), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Bernie Rhodenbarr book?

The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown (2022) is the newest Bernie Rhodenbarr book released so far.

Is there a new Bernie Rhodenbarr book coming?

No next Bernie Rhodenbarr book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Awards Bernie Rhodenbarr has won

Wikidata records 1 award for Bernie Rhodenbarr. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

Bernie Rhodenbarr at a glance

Paused
No new Bernie Rhodenbarr title has appeared for 4 years. The last was published in 2022.
Release pace
Bernie Rhodenbarr books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
Length
3,684 pages across the 11 of 18 books with a recorded length, a median of 321 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Bernie Rhodenbarr books, 6 of 18, were published in the 1990s.

What the Bernie Rhodenbarr books are about

11 of the 18 Bernie Rhodenbarr books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: thieves is tagged on 11 of 11. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.

More books by Lawrence Block

The author page linked below lists every book in publication order.

Other series by Lawrence Block

The series linked below has its own reading-order page.