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Under the Mink [Paperback]

Lisa E. Davis (Author)
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)


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Book Description

April 1, 2001

New York City, 1949. At the Candy Box Club, three steps below the street, the show is about to begin. But in this club, the world is upside down. Emcee Blackie Cole is Blanche Cohen, the chorus line is led by a stunning dark-eyed boy named Titanic, and the only thing protecting the performers from the social reformers is Stevie, the kingpin of the mob's downtown operation, whose hand moves from the till to the pockets of the police. When a young gay man is murdered in the club, only Blackie cares enough to find out why. Richly detailed, Under the Mink is both a boldly entertaining picture of the lesbian and gay subculture of pre-stonewall New York, and a first class period mystery complete with gangsters, crooked cops, and notorious madams.

Lisa Davis's writing has appeared in Queer View Mirror 2, and Early Embraces II. among others. She lives in New York.


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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Devotees of the lesbian pulp romances of the '50s and '60s will want to sink into this smoky noir thriller set in Greenwich Village in the years just after World War II. Blackie Cole is a tuxedo-wearing butch whose soulful singing at the Candy Box, a Mafia-run nightclub, attracts a host of swooning regulars, as well as a lively mix of uptown types, from successful, secretly kiki actresses to rich gay men to straight couples out for a peep at the queers. None know that it's Blackie's bad luck in love that makes her songs so powerful. Her beautiful, hard-drinking lover, Renee, a stripper, has just moved out of Blackie's apartment and into an upscale brothel run by the nefarious Lucille. But between the mob on one side and the cops on the other, Blackie has more to worry about than her aching heart--especially when she stumbles on a corpse in the men's room of the Candy Box. The faults of this plucky first novel are simply the faults of the genre that it mimics: stock characters and overheated prose. But Blackie and her immediate circle are well drawn, and her dilemma is satisfyingly resolved.--Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

In the netherworld of Greenwich Village 1949, it's drag queens and hookers against mafiosi, crooked cops and other assorted thugs, in Lisa E. Davis's Under the Mink. When a gay man from a wealthy publishing family is murdered in the restroom of the Candy Box Club cabaret, drag king Blackie Cole gets caught in a web of danger and intrigue. Davis captures the decadence of New York's pre-Stonewall gay scene and the constant abuse that the men and women who comprised it were subjected to. The strength they find in one another while being scapegoated by the media, the police and just about everyone else is inspiring.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 280 pages
  • Publisher: Alyson Books; 1st edition (April 1, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1555835562
  • ISBN-13: 978-1555835569
  • Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #524,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars better than your average butch, October 11, 2002
This review is from: Under the Mink (Paperback)
What's a drag kig to do when she finds a dead body in the bathroom? Torn between the mob, the cops, and deliciously different women, Blackie has a lot on her hands in this novel. The settings are impressively depicted, but the characters a bit stock. Overall, this one was worth waiting for, and I'm ready for another offering from this writer.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Debonair ... Kings, High Society ..., & ..., May 16, 2001
By 
A Reader (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Under the Mink (Paperback)
This fast-paced book is a fabulous and fun blend of noirish action, riveting romance, and detailed and colorful descriptions of Greenwich Village in the 1940s. With each page of this hard-boiled thriller I was pulled along by the well-drawn, likeable characters: glamorous chorus girls (who are really boys), handsome emcees (who are really women), madames, ... mob kingpins, wealthy socialites, corrupt businessmen, and crooked politicians. Think L.A. CONFIDENTIAL but with a lesbian/gay twist and set in the seedy but sexy world of 1940s NY nightclub life. Can't wait for the sequel!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Under the Mink Goes Over the Top, April 18, 2001
By 
Martha C. Christian (Gerrardstown, WV USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Under the Mink (Paperback)
Kudos to Lisa Davis for making me almost miss my train stop two days in a row! Her UNDER THE MINK is more than a juicy slice of pre-Stonewall history that all gays and lesbians will enjoy coming to intimate terms with via this novel. It's also a mystery/thriller and a love story with terrific-and complex-plot and character development and absolutely authentic scene-setting and dialogue. I could actually SEE this book unfolding on the big screen as I read it. What a great movie it would make! I'm recommending UNDER THE MINK to all my friends, especially family!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Uptown on Park Avenue, Skip sat on the edge of his bed-antique Venetian, supported head and foot by gilded leaping dolphins. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
John Jay, Candy Box, Blackie Cole, Smash Nose Babe, Jackie Mae, Park Avenue, The Daily, New York, Eighth Street, Jay Jay, Christopher Street, Crazy Charlie, Bubble Room, Miss Diana, Detective Swazey, Didi Fletcher-Payne, Stevie the Frenchman, Victor Callahan, Lucille Martin, Sixth Avenue, Charles Street Station, Greenwich Village, Miss Freddi, Pat Burns, Carmen Miranda
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