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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining semi-autobiographical mystery set in Burlesque, March 11, 1999
By A Customer
This is an entertaining murder mystery, probably the only one ever written set backstage in a Burlesque theater. Gypsy Rose Lee was the most famous Burlesque dancer of her day, and also famous as an intelligent and classy woman. She was the toast of society offstage, and this books shows some of what made her company so enjoyable. A lot of the material is semi-autographical, and used in greater depth in her wonderful autobiography "Gypsy" (later made into a musical and movie). The rest is pure backstage burlesque, the strippers and their rivalries, the sleazy management, the likeable baggy-pants comic, even the crew. Not a great book, but an enjoyable one, and about the only glimpse you'll ever get into the real-life world of burlseque.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
G-String Murders Lacks Zing, February 25, 2006
This review is from: The G-String Murders (Femmes Fatales) (Paperback)
Being a huge fan of Golden Age mystery fiction and also an admirer of Gypsy Rose Lee, I was very eager to read this book. I also have the film "Lady of Burlesque" with Barbara Stanwyck, which follows the book fairly closely and which I thorougly enjoy. However, although Gypsy Rose Lee "stars" in the story which involves murders among the striptease acts in an Opera House, the writing is rather uninvolving and I who read voraciously had trouble staying interested. I also confess to being rather annoyed at the petty squabbling between the women which fails to capture the friendships that also develop between women. In fact, the characterizations remain on an extremely superficial level and the few colorful instances (almost "pre-code" sort of moments) do not rescue the story or make it any more compelling. I found myself bored and wanting to read something else. It's a pity, because I truly did want to like it and the premise was promising.
My conclusion: Gypsy Rose Lee was a very beautiful woman and I imagine a powerful and provocative performer with some class to boot, but she is not a great writer by any stretch of the imagination. Being a great performer or leading a colorful life does not necessarily mean that you can write; writing is a whole other art form and too many people think it requires no particular skill since one is not required to do eye-high kicks or hit high notes. They're absolutely wrong, as misfires such as this demonstrate (although I've read far worse).
A disappointment, but may fill the bill for someone looking for a light read. To use an apt cliche: mediocre fare.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Witty and fun, November 18, 2006
This review is from: The G-String Murders (Femmes Fatales) (Paperback)
First: I can't speak to the typographical errors, because I own a different edition, but typos are incredibly annoying, so you might want to poke around for something like the 1984 Penguin paperback, which I have.
Now: This is great fun! It's not the great American novel, but it's certainly well-enough written. She sympathetically illustrates the interesting (and now bygone) world of burlesque theater with observant touches, a fully developed wry voice and a few bawdy winks. Absolutely soaked in atmosphere.
I read a lot of mysteries and I'll admit the murder mystery plot is no great shakes, but I really have to give credit to her writing. I was reminded of Kinky Friedman's detective fiction, which like this is based on a semiautobiographical protagonist and displays a love for the scenes of the city -- and like this has the occasional truly felicitous description.
As for the depictions of women, yes, many of the performers (male and female) snipe at each other and fight, but there is also an undercurrent of intelligence and camaraderie that comes through clearly. Gypsy and friend Gee Gee have a closeness whose texture feels both casual and real; the women are (mostly) street-smart and funny and *modern* in that way that can almost seem anachronistic to today's reader. But that's the beauty of it: This was really written at the time by somebody who knew that scene inside and out, so you know it's grounded in reality.
Again: It's not great literature, it's even a bit cartoony, but it's a real kick.
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