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I'm about half way through The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras by J. Michael Orenduff. I chose this book because it is set in Albuquerque, New Mexico where I am visiting at the moment. If you like Lawrence Block's burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, you will feel a strong sense of deja vu reading this. Hubert Schuze, the pot thief, has a clever and attractive young female best buddy and sidekick, a somewhat corrupt policeman who keeps coming around, and conversations full of humorous banter and erudite trivia. Hubert and Susannah (the sidekick) even talk about Bernie over margaritas.
Orenduff captures the flavor of Albuquerque wonderfully... as successfully as James Lee Burke's Louisiana and Michael Connelly's Los Angeles. I'm happy to be reading this here with access to the exceptional food, the Old Town shops, the Rio Grande River, and the Sandia Mountains. The food: this book will make you salivate. I don't agree with and am annoyed by the pot thief's justifications for removing archaeological treasures from public land, but I'm trying very hard to ignore that and enjoy the spirit of fun.
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