The King's Chamber: "The Burglar Who Dropped In On Elvis" (1990) by Lawrence Block

Last time, I discussed Lawrence Block's thirteenth entry in the Bernie Rhodenbarr series, The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown (2022), which flirted with the science-fiction genre by transporting the two main characters to an alternate universe – a reality catering to the needs an antiquarian book dealer and burglar. Regrettably, the alternate universe setting and overall plot ended up taking a backseat to the character-arc of Bernie and Carolyn. So the review and my return to the series ended on a dour note. I decided to do an addendum, of sorts, by tackling a short story that has been on the big pile for ages.

 

 

Lawrence Block's "The Burglar Who Dropped In On Elvis" was originally published in the April, 1990, issue of Playboy and recently appeared in The Burglar in Short Order (2020).

Bernie Rhodenbarr is approached by a reporter, Holly Danahy, who works for a supermarket tabloid, Weekly Galaxy, which runs stories on Big Foot and alien impregnations. Holly Danahy has a fairly low opinion of her readership, "our readers write letters in crayon because they’re not allowed to have anything sharp," but a story is a story and money is money. She has a great idea that requires the services of a talented burglar and hunted down the antiquarian bookseller by day and cat burglar by night, Bernie Rhodenbarr.

Holly Danahy wants to have the best possible pictures of one of the best kept secrets in America, "a shot of the King's bedroom," which is on the off-limits floor at Graceland. Every day, thousands of people visit Graceland, but neither the visitors nor the staff members are allowed to go upstairs and "they'd all love to know what it looks like upstairs" – which "the Weekly Galaxy would just love to show them." Holly wants Bernie to enter the second floor bedroom and snap some pictures to splash on their front page. And net herself a bonus and promotion. Bernie agrees to do the job for twenty-five thousand dollars and reason for his asking price made my inner fanboy squeal with pure joy! Bernie tells Carolyn, "all I could think of was that it sounded like a job for Nick Velvet. You remember him, the thief in the Ed Hoch stories who'll only steal worthless objects." Holly agreed and put all the Weekly Galaxy's resources at his disposal.

So the setup gives the impression "The Burglar Who Dropped In On Elvis" is going to be an inverted locked room mystery and the story is listed in Brian Skupin's Locked Room Murders: Supplement (2019), but it really isn't a locked room mystery at all. It's not even your regular gentleman burglar story in which he finds a cunning way to bypass locked doors, guards and security systems. Bernie goes into full heist mode to the point where I heard heist-movie music in my head. The plan has everything from staged diversions and helicopters to a very well executed twist-ending that raised the overall story to the level of its much more well-known counterpart, "The Burglar Who Smelled Smoke" (1997). I thought the plot would not have been out of place in an episode of the old Leverage TV-series. 

"The Burglar Who Dropped In On Elvis" is a great short story from the modern-day Rogue School and a reminder how this series did its part in helping me to understand that not every piece of crime-and detective fiction published after the Golden Age is irredeemable trash. If you like these kind of cheery and spirited rogue stories, Block's "The Burglar Who Dropped In On Elvis" comes highly recommended.