Like mystery writers Donald Westlake and Robert Parker, Lawrence Block does not let the reader down. It is not that his books are all alike or unsurprising; it is that we can count on the type of book we are about to read. He has written short stories and books about writing, but most often they are suspense stories, usually with humor involved.

One of his continuing characters is Bernie Rhodenbarr, a burglar. Moralists may wonder why a burglar is chosen to be a protagonist. I can only respond that this is a moral burglar, in a way. He has principles. The same can be said about the hero of Hit and Run. Keller is a hit man, not a profession that we can admire.

Before Block is through with us and Keller, however, we can admire the man. He has determined that the time has come to retire and work on his stamp collection. One last job has been arranged, and he goes to Des Moines to take care of it.

The reader -- and less quickly, Keller -- realizes that something is wrong. He is escorted by a contact person to see the designated victim, provided with a hotel room, offered a gun, and shown a recommended restaurant. Keller has not survived all these years on the shady side by being careless. He moves out of the hotel, wiping fingerprint surfaces; but he has handled the gun and eaten at the restaurant.

There is a strange delay from his employer. Then he sees on TV that the governor has been assassinated, with the kind of gun that he handled. Worried, he soon sees pictures of himself, identified by one of his aliases, as the assassin. He calls Dot, his partner, but she doesn't answer. He gets a message from her telling him to "ditch" the cell phone.

So here is our hero, wanted for a dastardly crime, all on his own, having left incriminating evidence, but innocent of the crime. He has spent most of his cash buying stamps for his collection just the day before. He has no car, no place to stay, and Dot has disappeared. He needs to disappear, too, knowing he has been set up for this murder. But how?

If you like this kind of mysterypuzzle, you will not be disappointed in Hit and Run, available at the Mary Willis Library.