Review: Lawrence Block shares a little bit of pulp fiction

Lawrence Block, "One Night Stands and Lost Weekends"

Beware the book whose author admits in the introduction he's afraid to read the stories that follow:

"I'm scared I'll decide not to publish them after all, and it's too late for that. So an uncharacteristic attack of honesty compels me to advise you that I am in the curious position of introducing you to a couple of dozen short stories which I myself haven't read in forty years."

That's from one of three introductions Block writes in "One Night Stands and Lost Weekends," a fun if warmed-over collection of the author's early work, which had already been published in separate collectors' volumes at the turn of the century.

The stories are just what the title suggests. Quickies sold to pulps and their descendants in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the first part of the book and easily digestible hard-boiled novellas in the second. They're all easily forgettable — Block, in fact, forgot about a few — but curiously compelling.

Though they mirrored the dreck of the day — full of rapists, murders with semiplausible twists and an unending line of bombshell blondes pulling a double-cross — Block shows the early promise that would lead him to Grand Master status with the Mystery Writers of America and four Edgar and Shamus awards.

His Matthew Scudder and Bernie Rhodenbarr characters are the gold standard. "One Night Stands and Lost Weekends" gives fans of Block's work an early look at the flamboyant fun of the Rhodenbarr mysteries and the wry humor and violence of the Scudder noirs.

But for those who want to introduce themselves to the author, skip this book and head directly to "When the Sacred Ginmill Closes" or "Burglars Can't Be Choosers."