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The G-String Murders
“Burlesque is the background . . . [and] the background is perfect. Recommended for the readers who feel better when their eyebrows are raised.” —The New Yorker A mystery set in the underworld of burlesque theater, The G-String Murders was penned in 1941 by the legendary queen of the stripteasers—the witty and wisecracking Gypsy Rose Lee. Narrating a twisted tale of a backstage double murder, Lee provides a fascinating look behind the scenes of burlesque, richly populated by the likes of strippers Lolita LaVerne and Gee Gee Graham, comic Biff Brannigan and Siggy the g-string salesman. This is a world where women struggle to earn a living performing bumps and grinds, have gangster boyfriends, sip beer between acts and pay their own way at dinner.Femmes Fatales restores to print the best of women’s writing in the classic pulp genres of the mid-20th century. From mystery to hard-boiled noir to taboo lesbian romance, these rediscovered queens of pulp offer subversive perspectives on a turbulent era. Enjoy the Bedelia; Bunny Lake Is Missing; By Cecile; The G-String Murders; The Girls in 3-B; Laura; The Man Who Loved His Wife; Mother Finds a Body; Now, Voyager; Return to Lesbos; Skyscraper; Stranger on Lesbos; Stella Dallas; Women’s Barracks.“[Lee’s] novel is a rich and lusty job, brimming over with infectious vitality and a hilarious jargon of her own.” —Life“A lurid, witty and highly competent detective story . . . Rich show business vocabulary and stage door gags make her book almost a social document . . . The G-String Murders builds up to a hair-raising climax.” —Time
284 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1941
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970 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
June 20, 2022
Average at.best
I first tried to read this book when I found it in our high school library. Most of the books in that library were not in the card catalog and most of the books in the card catalog were not in the library. I don't think that any of the donated books were in the card catalog or listed anywhere. I suspect that if any teachers or administrators had known of this book it would not have remained in the library. However, particularly by modern standards, there is virtually no salacious content. Which, as a healthy teenage boy who knew who Gypsy Rose Lee was, is exactly what I was looking for. A big disappointment which I did not finish.
I recently came across the book free with Kindle unlimited so decided to try it again. This time I was disappointed with the writing and the mystery. There is some controversy as to whether Gypsy Rose Lee actually wrote the novel. If she did, she was assisted by others including, possibly, Craig Rice whom Alexander Wolcott snidely called Lee's boyfriend. To understand the "wit" of that observation, one needs to know that Craig Rice was Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig, writer of mystery novels and short stories, described by book critic Bill Ruehlmann as "the Dorothy Parker of detective fiction, she wrote the binge and lived the hangover."
There is a lot about burlesque and the performers and little about the murders until about the last third of the book. Then suddenly, without warning, one of the performers becomes a Hercule Poirot stand in and makes short work of the mystery. In my opinion it should have been shorter. The reception of this novel was and is driven by sensationalism and curiosity, not literary merit.
I first tried to read this book when I found it in our high school library. Most of the books in that library were not in the card catalog and most of the books in the card catalog were not in the library. I don't think that any of the donated books were in the card catalog or listed anywhere. I suspect that if any teachers or administrators had known of this book it would not have remained in the library. However, particularly by modern standards, there is virtually no salacious content. Which, as a healthy teenage boy who knew who Gypsy Rose Lee was, is exactly what I was looking for. A big disappointment which I did not finish.
I recently came across the book free with Kindle unlimited so decided to try it again. This time I was disappointed with the writing and the mystery. There is some controversy as to whether Gypsy Rose Lee actually wrote the novel. If she did, she was assisted by others including, possibly, Craig Rice whom Alexander Wolcott snidely called Lee's boyfriend. To understand the "wit" of that observation, one needs to know that Craig Rice was Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig, writer of mystery novels and short stories, described by book critic Bill Ruehlmann as "the Dorothy Parker of detective fiction, she wrote the binge and lived the hangover."
There is a lot about burlesque and the performers and little about the murders until about the last third of the book. Then suddenly, without warning, one of the performers becomes a Hercule Poirot stand in and makes short work of the mystery. In my opinion it should have been shorter. The reception of this novel was and is driven by sensationalism and curiosity, not literary merit.
August 28, 2011
The G-String Murders is one of those books that is eclipsed by the fame of its author, in this case the most famous strip-tease artiste of them all, Gypsy Rose Lee.
For many years it was claimed that the book was ghost-written by successful mystery writer Craig Rice (a pseudonym used by Georgiana Ann Craig). It now seems to be generally accepted that in fact Gypsy Rose Lee wrote the book herself. Actually it’s fairly obvious that she did - the book is quite rough round the edges, the pacing is not quite right, the plot is ingenious but perhaps too ingenious. In other words it reads like a first-time novel by someone who was not a professional writer.
On the other hand it’s not without entertainment value. Gypsy Rose Lee might not have been the world’s most accomplished mystery writer but she certainly knew the world of burlesque. The novel is set entirely within that world and she brings it vividly to life, in all its seedy but fascinating glamour.
The heroine of the novel is a stripper named Gypsy Rose Lee, working in a burlesque theatre in New York. Things are going reasonably well for her, she’s in love with one of the comics (burlesque was as much about comedy as it was about strip-tease), and she’s fairly successful. And then one of the other strippers is murdered. Strangled with a g-string. That’s bad enough, but a second murder soon follows, with the same murder weapon.
Gypsy and her boyfriend Biff play amateur detective, which is just as well since the police aren’t having too much success. There’s no shortage of suspects, but there’s no obvious linkage between the two murders even though they were clearly committed by the same person, and this makes it very difficult to find a suspect with a sufficiently good motive for both slayings.
The book sold extremely well when it came out in 1941, although a second mystery novel, Mother Finds a Body, failed to repeat this success. The G-String Murders was filmed in 1943 as Lady of Burlesque (the film starred Barbara Stanwyck and it’s worth seeing).
The atmosphere and the details of life in burlesque are the book’s strengths and they’re enough to make it a worthwhile read.
For many years it was claimed that the book was ghost-written by successful mystery writer Craig Rice (a pseudonym used by Georgiana Ann Craig). It now seems to be generally accepted that in fact Gypsy Rose Lee wrote the book herself. Actually it’s fairly obvious that she did - the book is quite rough round the edges, the pacing is not quite right, the plot is ingenious but perhaps too ingenious. In other words it reads like a first-time novel by someone who was not a professional writer.
On the other hand it’s not without entertainment value. Gypsy Rose Lee might not have been the world’s most accomplished mystery writer but she certainly knew the world of burlesque. The novel is set entirely within that world and she brings it vividly to life, in all its seedy but fascinating glamour.
The heroine of the novel is a stripper named Gypsy Rose Lee, working in a burlesque theatre in New York. Things are going reasonably well for her, she’s in love with one of the comics (burlesque was as much about comedy as it was about strip-tease), and she’s fairly successful. And then one of the other strippers is murdered. Strangled with a g-string. That’s bad enough, but a second murder soon follows, with the same murder weapon.
Gypsy and her boyfriend Biff play amateur detective, which is just as well since the police aren’t having too much success. There’s no shortage of suspects, but there’s no obvious linkage between the two murders even though they were clearly committed by the same person, and this makes it very difficult to find a suspect with a sufficiently good motive for both slayings.
The book sold extremely well when it came out in 1941, although a second mystery novel, Mother Finds a Body, failed to repeat this success. The G-String Murders was filmed in 1943 as Lady of Burlesque (the film starred Barbara Stanwyck and it’s worth seeing).
The atmosphere and the details of life in burlesque are the book’s strengths and they’re enough to make it a worthwhile read.
March 12, 2023
The G-String Murders (1941) was one of two mysteries written by burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee. It was one of those nice little surprises I discovered a few years back and decided to give it a try.
As a mystery it was entertaining but not outstanding; lot of suspects and kind of formulaic. It starts with one of the burlesque house's strippers being found dead (strangled by a g-string). Of course the police investigate but the main part of the story is the alternate investigation by Gypsy and her boyfriend, Biff. As I say, lots of suspects, lots of threats and more suspicion amongst the burlesque actors.
The story is more enjoyable as a picture of the burlesque troupe, the characters, their lives, etc. More focus on the back stage activities than the actual burlesque shows. You see their cramped dressing rooms, the back-stabbing amongst the women, the costumes, their lives when they aren't working. You get police raids, time spent in the lock-up, relationships, drinking, parties. It's a wonderful, rich picture that Gypsy offers you. Even down to Gypsy designing and sewing her stage costumes and costumes for her friend, Gee Gee. It's a fascinating portrait, most enjoyable.
The book was turned into a movie, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Lady of Burlesque, that maybe TCM will show sometime. There is also an excellent afterword on Lee's life (in my edition at any rate), including some letters she wrote to her publishers. Well worth reading, an enjoyable, entertaining story. (3.5 stars)
As a mystery it was entertaining but not outstanding; lot of suspects and kind of formulaic. It starts with one of the burlesque house's strippers being found dead (strangled by a g-string). Of course the police investigate but the main part of the story is the alternate investigation by Gypsy and her boyfriend, Biff. As I say, lots of suspects, lots of threats and more suspicion amongst the burlesque actors.
The story is more enjoyable as a picture of the burlesque troupe, the characters, their lives, etc. More focus on the back stage activities than the actual burlesque shows. You see their cramped dressing rooms, the back-stabbing amongst the women, the costumes, their lives when they aren't working. You get police raids, time spent in the lock-up, relationships, drinking, parties. It's a wonderful, rich picture that Gypsy offers you. Even down to Gypsy designing and sewing her stage costumes and costumes for her friend, Gee Gee. It's a fascinating portrait, most enjoyable.
The book was turned into a movie, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Lady of Burlesque, that maybe TCM will show sometime. There is also an excellent afterword on Lee's life (in my edition at any rate), including some letters she wrote to her publishers. Well worth reading, an enjoyable, entertaining story. (3.5 stars)
December 11, 2022
As a murder mystery, this is not the greatest one ever written, but it is a first-class portrait of burlesque theater as it was back in the 1930s/1940s (it was first published in 1941). Gypsy Rose Lee was herself a stripper and knew whereof she wrote. She and the other actors work in the Old Opera House which had once been the setting of actual opera but had become a burlesque theater. The first part of the book deals with the routine lives of Gypsy and the other characters in their world - their performances, their backstage routines, their petty quarrels, their love affairs, their off hours sessions in bars and so forth. One of the girls is eventually murdered - strangled with a g-string. A bit later, another one is. The book is told in the first person by Gypsy herself. The police are investigating. Her boyfriend, Biff, who is a comic with the theater, helps her understand what was going on. And so the story goes, a bit confusedly.
March 6, 2014
p 87 February House
This wouldn't three
for anyone else but me
Sucker for a happy ending!!
This wouldn't three
for anyone else but me
Sucker for a happy ending!!
March 15, 2024
From 1941
Good atmosphere describing the world of burlesque stripteasers (which Gypsy Rose knew well), and the adjacent comics, straight men and stage managers etc. The mystery is not bad.
Good atmosphere describing the world of burlesque stripteasers (which Gypsy Rose knew well), and the adjacent comics, straight men and stage managers etc. The mystery is not bad.
July 7, 2022
Enjoyed the 1930s burlesque theater atmosphere, the wisecracking characters, and the quirky plot
February 17, 2011
I am a big fan of burlesque so having a novel based in a burlesque theater by a burlesque star? Fantastic! A noir/pulp novel? Woo!
The book, while good, was not great. But I didn't go into it expecting it to be amazing. I went into it to be entertained. And entertained I was.
The characters, while sometimes confusing if they were minor ones, interacted in a way that made me believe all of Gypsy Rose Lee's experience. They seem like a fun - if not vindictive - bunch. And while I had to question Biff's sudden detective-like abilities and the constant use of actually typing out Alice Angel's lisp, well, like I said, it was fun.
The basic plot is that a murder has happened at the Old Opera. A stripper is strangled with a G-string. And while the girls that work there are telling secrets about each other and trying to perform, the murder still lurks around them, threatening to kill even more.
Now I know most books have a mistake in the printing somewhere. A wrong letter, a misplaced quotation - it's to be expected. However, this book had a fair number of mistakes that really did detract from the reading. There were a number of times when "tried" was replaced by "tired." More than a few quotation mark were missing. And, for the money I spent on the book, I would expect more thorough combing.
All in all, it was a nice, quick read that made me smile. Especially when I was reading it on the train and had people staring at the title.
The book, while good, was not great. But I didn't go into it expecting it to be amazing. I went into it to be entertained. And entertained I was.
The characters, while sometimes confusing if they were minor ones, interacted in a way that made me believe all of Gypsy Rose Lee's experience. They seem like a fun - if not vindictive - bunch. And while I had to question Biff's sudden detective-like abilities and the constant use of actually typing out Alice Angel's lisp, well, like I said, it was fun.
The basic plot is that a murder has happened at the Old Opera. A stripper is strangled with a G-string. And while the girls that work there are telling secrets about each other and trying to perform, the murder still lurks around them, threatening to kill even more.
Now I know most books have a mistake in the printing somewhere. A wrong letter, a misplaced quotation - it's to be expected. However, this book had a fair number of mistakes that really did detract from the reading. There were a number of times when "tried" was replaced by "tired." More than a few quotation mark were missing. And, for the money I spent on the book, I would expect more thorough combing.
All in all, it was a nice, quick read that made me smile. Especially when I was reading it on the train and had people staring at the title.
August 11, 2021
I like this book because it's a time capsule . It isn't a complicated mystery ,easy to slip into . A good change of pace book . For those interested Barbara Stanwyck starred in the movie adaptation Lady Of Burlesque ( 1943 )
August 5, 2023
I got this book because I had sounded familiar, as if I've heard it mentioned before so I decided why not try it. When I got my copy, it had an ad on the back for the film based off of it; Lady of Burlesque. Being a Stanwyck fan I had already seen the movie but had no idea it was based off a book or that it was written by Gypsy Rose Lee. I thought the movie was a bit weak and didn't expect too much from the book but I ended up really liking it. I'm glad Gypsy put herself as the main character. It was easy to visualize her. All the other girls were written well and you got to know there personalities to the point of them saying something and you think "Alice would say that!" Since I had seen the film, I of course new who the murderer was but if this is all new to you, I think it would be a surprise.
November 1, 2016
If you are looking for a great mystery, this really is not it. However, it's a fun book to read and get a bit of what a burlesque theater was like back in the day.
Give it a try.
Give it a try.
April 23, 2020
This was pretty fun. Murder mystery is not a big genre of mine, this has a large cast but aprt from character confusion i was able to follow the plot contortions pretty well.
My main gripe is actually what should have been a positive. This should be a unique look into the world of the 40's burlesque scene but instead i often felt like an outsider. There's a lot slang and references which i felt you would need to know the timeperiod well already in order to fully get.
The best element is the humour/sarcasm. It borders on the Scream films at times as the main character seems well aware of the noir film cliches and the whole book has a glimmer in its eye. Overall it has a lot of character (and characters).
My main gripe is actually what should have been a positive. This should be a unique look into the world of the 40's burlesque scene but instead i often felt like an outsider. There's a lot slang and references which i felt you would need to know the timeperiod well already in order to fully get.
The best element is the humour/sarcasm. It borders on the Scream films at times as the main character seems well aware of the noir film cliches and the whole book has a glimmer in its eye. Overall it has a lot of character (and characters).
April 29, 2021
Very curious to read this book, was interested in how Gypsy Rose Lee would write about the burlesque world. It's a pretty frank story about the people and place. For the first third of the book you are there watching the world of burlesque run through its day, and to hear the various sniping that occurs between the women that work there.
Then there is a murder. (The title indicates plural and that is correct.). The police come in and start to investigate but from their angle things seem to go nowhere. It isn't until a second murder where things start to coalesce a bit. However, Gypsy isn't really investigating. She is seeing things and wondering what is going to happen next. Gypsy has a love who she works with named Biff (a comic.). He is also wondering what is going on as well. But we are specifically following Gypsy in this story.
So when we get to the end, the reveal- it gets confusing. A lot of the explanation happens in the last couple chapters. I found it interesting, the reveals - but I would love to have had Gypsy do more- discovering herself.
The story didn't feel crafted. It felt like you were reading an actual event. (I don't know if it's actually an event but it certainly felt like it could be.) I am going to read her other book, to see how she does after getting her first dose of writing out of her. It's actually an interesting book to read about characters, who are characters, but are also desperate people trying to make a living in a career that doesn't age well.
Then there is a murder. (The title indicates plural and that is correct.). The police come in and start to investigate but from their angle things seem to go nowhere. It isn't until a second murder where things start to coalesce a bit. However, Gypsy isn't really investigating. She is seeing things and wondering what is going to happen next. Gypsy has a love who she works with named Biff (a comic.). He is also wondering what is going on as well. But we are specifically following Gypsy in this story.
So when we get to the end, the reveal- it gets confusing. A lot of the explanation happens in the last couple chapters. I found it interesting, the reveals - but I would love to have had Gypsy do more- discovering herself.
The story didn't feel crafted. It felt like you were reading an actual event. (I don't know if it's actually an event but it certainly felt like it could be.) I am going to read her other book, to see how she does after getting her first dose of writing out of her. It's actually an interesting book to read about characters, who are characters, but are also desperate people trying to make a living in a career that doesn't age well.
March 7, 2020
Okay, it's not perfect (and this version has a heap of typos in it), but it gives a nice insight into the way thing were backstage in a burlesque house in the 1940's. Chock full of backstage "argot", which, if I didn't completely understand it, at least I was able to understand the gist.
December 1, 2008
A mystery supposedly written by the famous burlesque dancer Gypsey Rose. There is questions about whether perhaps it was ghost written, but it was released under her name in the early part of the 20th century. This is a part of a series of reprints put out by the Feminist Press.
July 27, 2025
2,5 estrellas (esto es, un aprobado raspado: 5 sobre 10). Un “whodunit” discretito y del montón. Más curioso por quién lo escribe (la famosa vedette Gypsy Rose Lee, que asume el papel de narradora y protagonista de esta historia ficticia) y por la ambientación del mundo de los espectáculos burlesque que conocía tan bien, que por el misterio en sí, bastante mal enfocado, y con un final precipitado, embrollado y un poco chapucero.
Curioso, sin más.
Curioso, sin más.
October 29, 2023
Burlesque legend Gypsy Rose Lee also wrote a couple of pulp fiction crime novels. Set in a burlesque theatre, and with herself as the main character, Lee tells the tale of strippers being strangled with a g-string. It's entertaining enough although some of the slang of the time is lost on a modern reader. A few good twists and a range of characters make this worth picking up.
January 23, 2023
I simply HAD to read this book because of the title and author.
It was confusing in the way that it jumped all over the place but ...
she was a stripper not a writer, and at least she fulfilled her dream of being a published author.
It was confusing in the way that it jumped all over the place but ...
she was a stripper not a writer, and at least she fulfilled her dream of being a published author.
Want to read
March 10, 2019Synopsis: a mystery set in the underworld of burlesque theatre. A backstage double murder is the centrepiece but bump and grind is here too.
March 20, 2014
When The G-String Murders (1941) hit the bookstore shelves, Gypsy Rose Lee, then only 28 years old, shined as the brightest start in burlesque. The book promised not only a titillating look backstage but also an exciting murder mystery.
As Sherrill Tippins explains in February House (2005), =Lee decided to "write a murder mystery set in the world of burlesque.... The murder weapon would be a chorus girl's G-string. She would call the book The G-String Murders. She was sure it would make a fortune and enhance her reputation as an "intellectual stripper" -- if she could only get it written."
Karen Abbott in American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare, the Life and Time of Gypsy Rose Lee (2010) points out that in 1940 Lee moved into 7 Middagh Street in New York city "with some of the most important writers and artists of the time: Carson McCullers, W.H. Auden, Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears, Chester Kallman, and George Davis, the openly gay fiction editor of Harper's Bazaar and an old friend -- the only one who knew her before she became Gypsy Rose Lee."
Tippins says:
"Lee read the stack of murder mysteries that [her editor Lee] Wright recommended, met with Craig Rice, a Chicago beat reporter and best-selling female mystery writer who soon became a close friend, and bought herself a new typewriter ("I thought the blue ribbon was sexy"). Then she got back to work.
"The trouble was, Gypsy didn't know how to write a novel.... [She hired] Dorothy Wheelock to write a first draft. But Gypsy found that no matter how hard Dorothy worked, the material failed to satisfy her. It was obvious to the younger writer -- and finally clear to Gypsy as well -- that calling herself an author wasn't enough. She wanted to write the book as well.
"George suggested that Gypsy begin by simply dictating some of her favorite stories to him. As she talked, he typed her words on [an] old typewriter....
"After much discussion, they decided to approach the book like a jigsaw puzzle: first write down all of Gypsy's anecdotes, character descriptions, and entertaining burlesque details, then arrange them into a rough story line.
"If the action threatened to slow down, Gypsy could always sprinkle a few professional terms into the dialogue, such as "pickle persuader," "grouch bag," and "gazeeka box."
"[Gypsy believed] that any publicity was good publicity. So the creation of a "literary Gypsy" spurred her to finish her book more quickly, before the public grew tired of the idea.
"Gypsy and George, no strangers to the publicity machine, had systematically amassed all the forces of book promotion to ensure its success. By winter, The G-String Murders had become the biggest-selling mystery since Dashiell Hammett's Thin Man."
Unfortunately, Lee's lack of familiarity with the genre makes for a pretty dull mystery with an overly complicated solution. The peek backstage, however, makes the book well worth reading.
Here's a long excerpt that I think shows off Lee's literary skill quite well. If this were a scene from, say, Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust undergrads would be still be puzzling over the symbolism. A Chinese waiter gives Gypsy a ginseng root, and tells her that “it only grew under the gallows where men had died,” and that “if I ate it I’d live forever.”
"The girls gathered around [Gee Gee] as she broke the seals. The first one was brittle and snapped off easily. The second she had to pry off with a nail file.
"I suddenly wanted to get out of the room. My common sense told me that my fears about the box were stupid and childish, but I couldn’t help it. I was frightened. “What if there is one flower in it?” I thought. “One flower that would disappear like dust when the air hit it.” Then there would be a sickening sweet odor, bitter almonds maybe, and before we knew what happened, we would be dead.
"She had removed the lead foil and held up a tin box for the curious girls to examine. The tin box was also sealed. Great chunks of brick-red wax were on either side.
"I wanted to stop her, but already she had begun to lift the top. There was no flower, no needle dipped in poison, no bomb; just a cotton-lined box with two long, dried roots embedded in the fluff. The roots were tied at the top with a piece of cord.
"It was by this cord that La Verne lifted the gift from the cotton. She held it for a second a watched it sway back and forth. “Look! It’s shaped like a man,” she said.
"Alice shivered. “Ugh. It’th dithguthing. Put it back in the box.”
"La Verne still stared at it, her green eyes wide and glistening. “Not so much like a man,” she whispered. “More like the skeleton of one.” With a cautious finger she touched the bleached, bonelike root. The pupils of her eyes dilated. She pushed the root and set it in motion again. Her heavy breathing was the only sound in the room."
Two daggers out of four.
As Sherrill Tippins explains in February House (2005), =Lee decided to "write a murder mystery set in the world of burlesque.... The murder weapon would be a chorus girl's G-string. She would call the book The G-String Murders. She was sure it would make a fortune and enhance her reputation as an "intellectual stripper" -- if she could only get it written."
Karen Abbott in American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare, the Life and Time of Gypsy Rose Lee (2010) points out that in 1940 Lee moved into 7 Middagh Street in New York city "with some of the most important writers and artists of the time: Carson McCullers, W.H. Auden, Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears, Chester Kallman, and George Davis, the openly gay fiction editor of Harper's Bazaar and an old friend -- the only one who knew her before she became Gypsy Rose Lee."
Tippins says:
"Lee read the stack of murder mysteries that [her editor Lee] Wright recommended, met with Craig Rice, a Chicago beat reporter and best-selling female mystery writer who soon became a close friend, and bought herself a new typewriter ("I thought the blue ribbon was sexy"). Then she got back to work.
"The trouble was, Gypsy didn't know how to write a novel.... [She hired] Dorothy Wheelock to write a first draft. But Gypsy found that no matter how hard Dorothy worked, the material failed to satisfy her. It was obvious to the younger writer -- and finally clear to Gypsy as well -- that calling herself an author wasn't enough. She wanted to write the book as well.
"George suggested that Gypsy begin by simply dictating some of her favorite stories to him. As she talked, he typed her words on [an] old typewriter....
"After much discussion, they decided to approach the book like a jigsaw puzzle: first write down all of Gypsy's anecdotes, character descriptions, and entertaining burlesque details, then arrange them into a rough story line.
"If the action threatened to slow down, Gypsy could always sprinkle a few professional terms into the dialogue, such as "pickle persuader," "grouch bag," and "gazeeka box."
"[Gypsy believed] that any publicity was good publicity. So the creation of a "literary Gypsy" spurred her to finish her book more quickly, before the public grew tired of the idea.
"Gypsy and George, no strangers to the publicity machine, had systematically amassed all the forces of book promotion to ensure its success. By winter, The G-String Murders had become the biggest-selling mystery since Dashiell Hammett's Thin Man."
Unfortunately, Lee's lack of familiarity with the genre makes for a pretty dull mystery with an overly complicated solution. The peek backstage, however, makes the book well worth reading.
Here's a long excerpt that I think shows off Lee's literary skill quite well. If this were a scene from, say, Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust undergrads would be still be puzzling over the symbolism. A Chinese waiter gives Gypsy a ginseng root, and tells her that “it only grew under the gallows where men had died,” and that “if I ate it I’d live forever.”
"The girls gathered around [Gee Gee] as she broke the seals. The first one was brittle and snapped off easily. The second she had to pry off with a nail file.
"I suddenly wanted to get out of the room. My common sense told me that my fears about the box were stupid and childish, but I couldn’t help it. I was frightened. “What if there is one flower in it?” I thought. “One flower that would disappear like dust when the air hit it.” Then there would be a sickening sweet odor, bitter almonds maybe, and before we knew what happened, we would be dead.
"She had removed the lead foil and held up a tin box for the curious girls to examine. The tin box was also sealed. Great chunks of brick-red wax were on either side.
"I wanted to stop her, but already she had begun to lift the top. There was no flower, no needle dipped in poison, no bomb; just a cotton-lined box with two long, dried roots embedded in the fluff. The roots were tied at the top with a piece of cord.
"It was by this cord that La Verne lifted the gift from the cotton. She held it for a second a watched it sway back and forth. “Look! It’s shaped like a man,” she said.
"Alice shivered. “Ugh. It’th dithguthing. Put it back in the box.”
"La Verne still stared at it, her green eyes wide and glistening. “Not so much like a man,” she whispered. “More like the skeleton of one.” With a cautious finger she touched the bleached, bonelike root. The pupils of her eyes dilated. She pushed the root and set it in motion again. Her heavy breathing was the only sound in the room."
Two daggers out of four.
April 29, 2020
An okay glimpse into a little corner of the world, but for the most part, it's kind of dreary and the cast isn't terribly memorable or likable.
Which , I guess makes it one of the more honest things Gypsy wrote, but understandable why it never got a sequel.
One of those rare instances where the movie was better than the book.
Which , I guess makes it one of the more honest things Gypsy wrote, but understandable why it never got a sequel.
One of those rare instances where the movie was better than the book.
November 19, 2011
The provocative title of this burlesque novel is, I’m afraid, its most provocative part. Given that it was written in the 1940s, I suppose I shouldn’t be that surprised. The G-String Murders follows the adventures of Gypsy Rose Lee, writing about herself, imagining a fictional string of murders in the burlesque house where she does her shows. The novel’s title refers to the article of clothing used to strangle the two strip-tease artists murdered in the course of the novel. A few thoughts:
In my mystery group, there was a fairly heated discussion about whether or not Craig Rice, another more established crime writer, actually wrote this novel, or if she consulted on it. Wikipedia says she mostly consulted. Either way, the authentic aspects of the burlesque theatre and its actors’ lives makes the novel work well, and provides solid evidence that Lee was heavily involved.
As far as mysteries go, this novel isn’t much to thrill about. The end is pretty convoluted, and it felt like the author could have introduced any number of tiny facts at the end to explain the circumstances so that any of the suspects could have been the murderer.
I also had trouble getting all that excited about the murder mystery aspect, perhaps because our narrator is mostly a bystander in the murder investigation: she’s there during the murders and the investigation, but she isn’t the detective, nor does she want to be. When the agent solving the crime isn’t the main character (nor is the main character involved at all, really) the story ceases to be a murder mystery in a lot of ways.
The novel’s most positive aspect is its dialogue, which sings with with and humor, as well as giving a solid sense of how these ladies felt and interacted with one another.
One member of our book group commented that this book works nicely for burlesque the same way The Sopranos worked for the mafia, as a way of reminding us that these stereotyped people working at a job not respected or understood by many were actually people with strong feelings and hopes for their lives. The lovely romance that develop between Alice and Mike, for instance, is pretty heartwarming.
It’s an okay novel, but ultimately I didn’t like it very much. Not recommended unless you’re really interested in the burlesque culture.
In my mystery group, there was a fairly heated discussion about whether or not Craig Rice, another more established crime writer, actually wrote this novel, or if she consulted on it. Wikipedia says she mostly consulted. Either way, the authentic aspects of the burlesque theatre and its actors’ lives makes the novel work well, and provides solid evidence that Lee was heavily involved.
As far as mysteries go, this novel isn’t much to thrill about. The end is pretty convoluted, and it felt like the author could have introduced any number of tiny facts at the end to explain the circumstances so that any of the suspects could have been the murderer.
I also had trouble getting all that excited about the murder mystery aspect, perhaps because our narrator is mostly a bystander in the murder investigation: she’s there during the murders and the investigation, but she isn’t the detective, nor does she want to be. When the agent solving the crime isn’t the main character (nor is the main character involved at all, really) the story ceases to be a murder mystery in a lot of ways.
The novel’s most positive aspect is its dialogue, which sings with with and humor, as well as giving a solid sense of how these ladies felt and interacted with one another.
One member of our book group commented that this book works nicely for burlesque the same way The Sopranos worked for the mafia, as a way of reminding us that these stereotyped people working at a job not respected or understood by many were actually people with strong feelings and hopes for their lives. The lovely romance that develop between Alice and Mike, for instance, is pretty heartwarming.
It’s an okay novel, but ultimately I didn’t like it very much. Not recommended unless you’re really interested in the burlesque culture.
June 27, 2014
I read this in the 1980s or early 1990s and was very favourably surprised by it: I'd expected it to be a bit of a grind (geddit?), a novel published solely because of the notoriety of its author, but instead found a sprightly detective tale that was lots of fun. Later I discovered that the very good mystery writer Craig Rice had "helped" Lee quite a lot with the book; although there's controversy over how much Rice actually did, anywhere from basic editorial tidying to essentially ghosting, it would explain the easy flow of the text.
I enjoyed the novel far less this time around, I think because my own tastes in crime fiction have changed quite a lot in the intervening period. There's no real darkness or obsession here, as one might find in, say, a Tartan or a Nordic Noir -- no darkness or obsession at all, in fact -- while at the other end of the scale there isn't the fiendish ingenuity of puzzle one would hope for in an Ellery Queen or a John Dickson Carr (or, indeed, the spookiness of atmosphere that the latter could create). Instead what we have is just a fun yarn in which it's hard really to care about anyone involved, or their fates.
There are some good lines -- for example, "I hope the cops don't think every G string in the theater is a clue, too. If they do we'll all be catching a hell of a lot of colds." That piece of dialogue is uttered by a character called Gee Gee Grahame. Obviously I wondered if there was a Gloria Grahame connection, but so far as I can find after a full thirty seconds' research the two women didn't know each other.
I feel a bit guilty giving this just two stars, because really there's nothing wrong with the book (and, if every I lay eyes on its sequel, I imagine I'll read that too), but it simply isn't for me at the moment. Too much film noir in my diet these days, I think!
I enjoyed the novel far less this time around, I think because my own tastes in crime fiction have changed quite a lot in the intervening period. There's no real darkness or obsession here, as one might find in, say, a Tartan or a Nordic Noir -- no darkness or obsession at all, in fact -- while at the other end of the scale there isn't the fiendish ingenuity of puzzle one would hope for in an Ellery Queen or a John Dickson Carr (or, indeed, the spookiness of atmosphere that the latter could create). Instead what we have is just a fun yarn in which it's hard really to care about anyone involved, or their fates.
There are some good lines -- for example, "I hope the cops don't think every G string in the theater is a clue, too. If they do we'll all be catching a hell of a lot of colds." That piece of dialogue is uttered by a character called Gee Gee Grahame. Obviously I wondered if there was a Gloria Grahame connection, but so far as I can find after a full thirty seconds' research the two women didn't know each other.
I feel a bit guilty giving this just two stars, because really there's nothing wrong with the book (and, if every I lay eyes on its sequel, I imagine I'll read that too), but it simply isn't for me at the moment. Too much film noir in my diet these days, I think!
November 22, 2012
I was very excited to discover that Gypsy Rose Lee had written a novel! It was first published in 1941 and set during the heyday of the New York burlesque scene of the 30s. It was a very enjoyable book. The writing was a little strange and inconsistent. As a whodunit it also wasn't much of a success but neither of these things are why you should be reading this book. This book is enjoyable because it's a fascinating glimpse into the burlesque scene, the raids, the theatre, acts, costumes, the backstabbing and infighting, the attitudes, the parties, early attempts at cosmetic surgery... The characters are great, for a book that's peppered with minor characters you get a feel for who everyone is. I loved the way the strippers were presented; they weren't glamorous or beautiful but real people trying to cover their flaws. They also weren't people to feel sorry for, while Gypsy said the only reason she joined the burlesque troupe was that it was that or starve there was no feelings of guilt or shame involved in what they were doing, they weren't there to be felt sorry for. And the judgemental were the ones who turned out to have the real problems. With the resurgence in burlesque acts in recent decades, I would definitely recommend this to people who are interested in both the modern and the original acts.
October 4, 2016
Who knew Gypsy Rose Lee had such a caustic wit! Readers of her New Yorker articles back in the day about Mother, sister June Havoc, and their vaudeville years knew, as well as her front-row customers. None of the millennials in my office ever heard of Gypsy. I caught the very bitter end of Burlesque back around 1970 in Boston’s old Combat Zone district, sneaking in to see Chesty Morgan. But there was no band, no chorus girls, no comedians, just too many wrinkles. Now that den of iniquity is an urban-renewed parking lot, probably owned by the Mayor’s buddy. So Gypsy’s murder mystery can be considered a historical novel: the cat-house dressing room, sleazy managers, leering cops; the gallons of makeup, musical numbers, costume technicals; and of course the “blackout”. Three of the characters were blacked out permanently. After much finger pointing and drama, Gypsy’s main squeeze Biff figures it all out.
Coincidently, Gypsy’s old farm in upstate New York is on the market for $1.8 million. Mother allegedly shot her girlfriend there when the gal made a move on Gypsy (resolved as a suicide by the local authorities). Gypsy also owned an Upper East Side Mansion in New York City, subsequently owned by Jasper Johns and now Spike Lee, that probably was a great place to hang out if anything like this book.
Coincidently, Gypsy’s old farm in upstate New York is on the market for $1.8 million. Mother allegedly shot her girlfriend there when the gal made a move on Gypsy (resolved as a suicide by the local authorities). Gypsy also owned an Upper East Side Mansion in New York City, subsequently owned by Jasper Johns and now Spike Lee, that probably was a great place to hang out if anything like this book.
August 25, 2008
This book was a fun read. I won it at a work party and let it languish on my bookshelf. Then, when I was reading Peggy Guggenheim's memoir she mentions Gipsy Rose as a sort of scenester from back in the day (she had a few drawings in a group show in PG's gallery). My interest piqued, I decided to make it my summer vacation read.
It isn't Tolstoy, but it was a worthy vacation read. The story line of these sort of b-movie americana detective stories has become fascinating to me ever since a friend lent me his copy of Raymond Chandler's book, The Younger Sister.
What I liked about The G-String Murders was its unique point of view, being written by a real burlesque girl in the narrator's voice of a burleque girl. Nice.
Maybe it is the insights to what a burlesque house would be like, maybe because it's a pretty good story, it's an enjoyable read. You get little ditties that reflect time and place - this is not the modern day stripper crowd, but it is the less smutty but still sexual grandmother of it.
And, it led me to keep the torch alive, I just finished reading Dashell Hamitt's The Thin Man (also a good vacation read).
It isn't Tolstoy, but it was a worthy vacation read. The story line of these sort of b-movie americana detective stories has become fascinating to me ever since a friend lent me his copy of Raymond Chandler's book, The Younger Sister.
What I liked about The G-String Murders was its unique point of view, being written by a real burlesque girl in the narrator's voice of a burleque girl. Nice.
Maybe it is the insights to what a burlesque house would be like, maybe because it's a pretty good story, it's an enjoyable read. You get little ditties that reflect time and place - this is not the modern day stripper crowd, but it is the less smutty but still sexual grandmother of it.
And, it led me to keep the torch alive, I just finished reading Dashell Hamitt's The Thin Man (also a good vacation read).
November 13, 2017
When I first saw this, I assumed it was a pastiche or parody, but it was written by the legendary burlesque artiste herself, and originally published in 1941. Some people question whether Gypsy actually wrote it, but this excellent edition includes correspondence with her editor which shows her well able to g-string words together and write in a feistily entertaining style. I loved it, not so much for the murder mystery but for the depiction of the world of burlesque, which includes police raids, racketeers, alarming breast-enhancement techniques and the worst toilet in town. The Runyonesque characters are terrific: Gypsy writes in the first person, and the burlesque troupe includes the mysterious Princess Nirvena (who definitely never played Toledo), shop steward Jannine, Prima Donna Lolita La Verne, and the sweetly lisping Alice who suddenly gives in her notice and explains: "Well, I'm - that ith, he - I'm going to get married and he doethn't want me to... Oh, I don't want to hurt anyone'th feelingth or anything, but he doethn't think thripteathing ith nithe for a married woman." Sod the Purity League, these dames deserve their 21st century encore.
September 17, 2020
This is a hard book to rate. In form, it gets a 1; in enjoyability, it gets five Big stars. Historian Karen Abbott, who wrote a biography of Gypsy, calls this: "Such a great little pulpy book!" She could not be more correct. The plot involves some burnt-out burlesque queens in search of a new toilet battling what appears to be a killer. When one stripper is found dead on the new toilet, strangled by a fur-lined g-string, chaos ensues. The strippers wonder who, if anyone, will be next. The police wonder how they are going to get the truth out of the unruly crowd. Comic Biff Brannigan turns amateur sleuth. Gypsy Rose Lee was more a character than a writer (or a burlesque queen for that matter). Fiercely intelligent, witty, and appropriately self-deprecating, she makes herself a main character in this, her first mystery (Followed by MOTHER FINDS A BODY). Art? No. A Treat? For sure.
September 11, 2019
There are millions of options from grandmas to gangsters but you gotta give it up for Gypsy Rose Lee! She wrote two books, starred in several motion pictures, graced Broadway, wrote a play, snatched, and defended the title of most famous burlesque dancer until @ditavonteese began her reign. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This murder mystery is written from the teasers’ perspective and boasts all the slang and grime of the time. It’s also really funny. I was wondering how to describe it when I thought... “I wonder how the other books treat it when I’m not around, knowing what they know?” Seriously though, that happened. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s not going to be debated in a classic lit class but it’s vintage, camp fun and you know it could kick Little Women’s ass if they side-eyed it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This murder mystery is written from the teasers’ perspective and boasts all the slang and grime of the time. It’s also really funny. I was wondering how to describe it when I thought... “I wonder how the other books treat it when I’m not around, knowing what they know?” Seriously though, that happened. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s not going to be debated in a classic lit class but it’s vintage, camp fun and you know it could kick Little Women’s ass if they side-eyed it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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