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Femmes Fatales: Women Write Pulp
The Feminist Press at CUNY
June 2005
On Sale: June 1, 2005
240 pages
ISBN: 1558615032
EAN: 9781558615038
Paperback
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Suspense | Fiction
A mystery set in the underworld of burlesque theater, The G-String Murders was penned in 1941 by the legendary queen of the stripteasersβthe 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. The story unfolds in a New York theater modeled on the legendary Minskyβs, prone to raids by corrupt city cops and fierce competition among strippers. When one performer is found strangled with a g-string, no one is above suspicion. But when a second murder follows, the trailβand the actionβreally heats up. In the police procedural that follows, a host of clueless coppers faces off against the theaterβs tough-talking guys and dolls, and itβs clear that Gypsy and her cohorts will have to crack the case themselves. The basis of the 1943 film Lady of Burlesque starring Barbara Stanwyck, The G-String Murders was the first of two murder mysteries written by Gypsy Rose Lee. A natural-born raconteur, Lee also contributed short pieces to The New Yorker and hosted her own television talk show; even her unparalleled stardom in the burlesque world was attributed more to her witty banter than to her risquΓ© moves. It is this fabled wit, along with Gypsyβs brassy sociology, that make The G-String Murders a must-read primer of sex, commerce and urban living.
 Media BuzzCBS Sunday Morning - February 20, 2011
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