Femmes Fatales: Women Write Pulp
The Feminist Press at CUNY
June 2005
On Sale: June 1, 2005
240 pages ISBN: 1558615032 EAN: 9781558615038 Paperback Add to Wish List
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.
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