"The Block," a first novel by Baltimore writers Bob Litwin and Chip Silverman, is a story within a story within a story, making about 10 stories all together. The stories focus on Harry "The Lord" Tennyson and his whereabouts. Tennyson disappeared sometime in the 1950s. Did he run away? Was he killed? Who was responsible? Who knows?
The story begins in the present as Charles Whittier, writer for Esquire magazine, arrives in Baltimore, ready to research the art of burlesque for a magazine article. He goes to The Block, enters the Desert club, sees a painting of club owner Tennyson, and learns that Tennyson mysteriously disappeared. Whittier wants to learn why. His pursuit becomes the subject for the rest of the book.
The book's structure is also laid out here at the beginning. While at the club, Whittier sees a hard-looking girl with hideously dyed hair, not more than 20 or so. She's wearing a bikini top and very tiny shorts. Whittier notices the wedding band strung on a chain around her neck. The girl and the ring remind him of something one of his journalism professors said about the key to success being a story that is really 10 stories just waiting to be told.
Mr. Litwin and Mr. Silverman have evidently received the same advice, which serves them well in their latest venture. During the past 20 years, they have written for the former Baltimore News American newspaper, served as contributing editors at Baltimore magazine, and been hosts of segments of the "Evening/PM Magazine" television program. Mr. Silverman has also written the book "Diner Guys" and has appeared in Barry Levinson's film "Tin Men."
Mr. Levinson is, in a sense, the idea behind this present book. Several years ago, according to Mr. Litwin and Mr. Silverman, Mr. Levinson was considering making a film about Baltimore's Block. But someone beat Mr. Levinson to it, coming out with a movie featuring one of the Block's better known performers, Blaze Starr. Mr. Levinson, however, had already asked Mr. Litwin and Mr. Silverman to begin research for his film. They decided to use the information they had gathered as the background for this novel.
Accordingly, they have written "The Block" as if it were an article. The story unfolds by showing Whittier locating and interviewing several people. These interviews begin in the present, then take the story back to several characters in the past.
There's Tennyson, the Block club owner, who dabbled in illegal gambling and prostitution. There's Tennyson's wife, Dorothy Delvecchio, daughter of an important and crooked city councilman. There's Tennyson's girlfriend, Katherine Louise, a stripper and nightclub dancer. There's Tennyson's antagonist, Little Marvin, a drug pusher. After several chapters about the past, there's a chapter called The Article, which contains Whittier's story to date.
The unusual structure forces the action to move back and forth, from past to present; it also draws in numerous colorful characters. Unfortunately, though, this same structure makes the story somewhat choppy.
Begin reading about one of the characters, and suddenly another character appears. One learns through several of Whittier's interviews, for instance, that Tennyson has cheated Little Marvin. Considering there are about 10 important characters, the sudden switching of characters -- some from the past, some from the present -- is somewhat confusing. In addition, each interviewee mentions several characters. The result is more confusion. A who's who at the story's beginning would have helped.
Nevertheless, the characters have an absorbing and colorful story to tell. The history behind the story adds to the color. Tennyson, Katherine Louise, Dorothy Delvecchio, Little Marvin and their numerous friends and business contacts are seemingly based on people who actually existed. The book never tells exactly who these people were, but it drops little hints. These hints make the novel something of a tease, like Katherine Louise's striptease.
The article that Whittier is writing also serves as a tease. It weaves fact and imagination together, making one wonder what happens next and whether it actually happened. Did Whittier actually find out what happened to the man around whom the character of Tennyson is built? Did he leave behind a lot of money? Did someone find it? How many of these characters are real? How many are invented?
These and other questions -- to use Mr. Litwin's and Mr. Silverman's delightful simile -- rattle around in your head like a seed in a dry gourd. That there may not be any answers to the questions doesn't seem to matter.
Ms. Scharper teaches writing at Towson State University.
Title: "The Block"
Authors: Bob Litwin and Chip Silverman
Publisher: Scribe
Length, price: 283 pages, $19.95