Burglars Can't Be Choosers, by Lawrence Block

If I'm looking for sheer, sophisticated entertainment, and Wodehouse isn't to hand (and sometimes even when he is), I reach for the Burglar books. Lawrence Block, who must be one of the most prolific writers in any genre, has turned out ten of these sparkling mysteries so far. And long may he continue.

The hero of the books is one Bernie Rhodenbarr, a Manhattan bookstore owner who also happens to be a burglar. Technically, that should probably make him an anti-hero, but he's a straightforward hero every time.

Bernie inhabits the New York we all love to imagine: a laid-back, loose-limbed sort of a city, peopled with laconic, wise-cracking characters always ready with a snappy quip or a sudden revolver. And the Burglar's the epitome of this personality: effortlessly witty and bright as a button, without being the smartarse nobody likes.

Burglars Can't Be Choosers is the first in the series - which can be enjoyed in sequence or in whatever order they arrive with you. It's not that important to read them in order, says Block on his website, adding the Bernie-esque aside that "I wrote them in order, but I didn't have any choice."

The books almost always follow the same basic formula: there's a murder, and Bernie's in the frame for it. (Often because he was sneaking into the victim's home around the same time as the Grim Reaper.) Unless he can solve the crime himself, he's going to be taking an unexpected and protracted vacation from the bookselling business.

But this 'formula' is far from monotonous. Indeed, settling down with the new Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery is like settling down for a drink with an old friend. Their very familiarity is what makes them so much fun, but they've always got some new and entertaining tale to tell.

Bernie's aided and abetted by his long-term compadre Carolyn Kaiser, a dog-groomer by trade. Whole passages of the Burglar books are taken up with dialogue between these two, much of it inconsequential – and all of it a delight to read. (Of course, Block also exploits the distractingly trivial quality of these chats to disguise plot points that bob to the surface later on.)

The fact that there will never be any romance between these two (they both like girls) means we're never looking for that possibility as readers, and can enjoy their banter and partnership as easily as they do themselves.

There's more. A lot more. But I'll let you discover the rest. And I hope you enjoy doing so as much as I have. (Click the cover image to start your Burglar collection at Amazon.)

Maus, by Art Spiegelman

I finished this extraordinary book on the train the other day. I don't recommend you do the same. Try to read the final pages somewhere private. Then you won't have to fight back the tears.

Tears over a comic book? A comic book about mice being terrorised by cats? Absolutely.

Maus is Art Spiegelman's retelling of his parents' experiences in the war, and in the camps at Birkenau and Auschwitz. And somehow the simple idea of turning the Jews into mice and the Nazis into cats makes the Holocaust more, not less, real.

The historical tale is also interwoven with the story of its own telling, as Spiegelman records his father's memories onto tape - dealing with the old man's neuroses, gripes and infuriating habits along the way. It's unflinchingly honest, and deeply moving.

I can't recommend this book enough. It's both epic and intimate. Hilarious and heartbreaking. Although the telling seems effortless, the whole thing is a masterpiece of construction. And once you've read it, you can't imagine this story being told any other way than in this inspired comic book form.

Click the image to buy Maus from Amazon.