One of the major games in The Burglar in the Library is the parody of the English country house mystery. When Lettice, who has been Bernie's lover, refuses his invitation to Cuttleford House, an imitation English inn in Connecticut, Bernie decides to take Carolyn as his date to make him look like half of a vacationing couple. Bernie believes that the inn contains the ultimate association copy, one of The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (1939; see separate entry), inscribed by both Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Both men wrote classic, hard-boiled mysteries.

Bernie wants to steal the copy to confirm that it exists and to have the thrill of owning it. He also mulls over the possibility of selling it and making a pretty penny for himself. Bernie and Carolyn talk over features of the English country house mystery as well as characteristics of the hard-boiled thriller. Most of...