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Peter Cutler Sargent II #1
Death in the Fifth Position
Soon after Peter Sargeant assumes the public relations duties of a ballet company, his job becomes complicated by anti-Communist pickets and the onstage murder of the leading ballerina
221 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1952
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
September 2, 2024
Maybe it's the pulp dialogue. Maybe nearly everything comes down to my love of pulp dialogue. This deeply satisfying murder mystery fairly drips with it. So naturally I'm thrilled to have fallen into the path of 'Edgar Box'.Ìý
~ which I only did because, in his memoir 'Palimpsest', Gore Vidal explains his somewhat short-lived pseudonymous career; repeated in the introduction to this paperback:
And he's funny as hell, beating even Raymond Chandler in the wit department - and Chandler is rather strong in that department. But Chandler wasn't gay - a plus-factor for the urbane Vidal that gives him a leg up. It also helps immensely that Vidal hit on the surefire brainchild of setting his first mystery in the world of ballet:
Vidal's hero here - one Peter Sargeant - is not a detective but a publicist who finds himself thrown into the sleuth position. Sargeant is cool-headed and pragmatic:
Vidal doesn't miss a beat as he boils his 'everyone is a suspect' pot. Some of the suspects are particularly delicious:
~ which I only did because, in his memoir 'Palimpsest', Gore Vidal explains his somewhat short-lived pseudonymous career; repeated in the introduction to this paperback:
The wisest man in American publishing at that time was someone called Victor Weybright, who published an extremely adventurous paperback series and had become something of a leader in the publishing world when he took the most untrashyÌýof American novelists seriously as a mass paperback author: William Faulkner.Weybright had also made a mint off of Mickey Spillane - so he suggested to Vidal (blacklisted by The New York Times due to the homosexual love affair content in 'The City and the Pillar') that he take a shot at mystery. Vidal took that shot, three times, with rather rewarding results:
There were three Edgar Box books in all, each written in eight days at the rate of ten thousand words a day, and I lived on them for the next dozen years until I discovered live television, where I wrote a great many plays for NBC, CBS, and so on.Though he claims to have taken his main inspiration from Agatha Christie, Vidal proved to be something of a natural at crime writing.Ìý
And he's funny as hell, beating even Raymond Chandler in the wit department - and Chandler is rather strong in that department. But Chandler wasn't gay - a plus-factor for the urbane Vidal that gives him a leg up. It also helps immensely that Vidal hit on the surefire brainchild of setting his first mystery in the world of ballet:
...it is the world of unfixed money: obscure Europeans, refugees from various unnamed countries, the new-rich, the wilder old-rich, the celebrated figures in the arts who have time for parties and finally the climbers, mysterious and charming and busy, of all ages, sexes, nationalities, shapes and sizes. It takes a long time to straighten everybody out.These, and a host of others who populate these pages, are types that Vidal knew intimately. This may be fiction - and Vidal's protagonist may be straight - but the deft author is pulling from what he knew first-hand, while simultaneously revealing quite a bit about himself.Ìý
Vidal's hero here - one Peter Sargeant - is not a detective but a publicist who finds himself thrown into the sleuth position. Sargeant is cool-headed and pragmatic:
I have that happy faith in logic which only a liberal arts education can give.He's given a prima ballerina love interest - which makes things even dicier for him - but he also finds himself immersed in the homosexual milieu which, ironically, had landed Vidal in hot water with the New York Times. Maybe Vidal got off easy here because his main character is rather fiercely heterosexual. Nevertheless, this novel's penultimate action-shift is a delirious night ride that's straight out of 'La Cage aux Folles'.Ìý
Vidal doesn't miss a beat as he boils his 'everyone is a suspect' pot. Some of the suspects are particularly delicious:
"Of course I did not kill this vile woman but I tell you one thing: if I did kill her I would do such good job there be no talk of murder. I know ways," and looking like a real murderess she shut those Asiatic eyes of hers until they were like black slanting eyes drawn on her white face.There are three deaths in this first entry - the middle one is particularly gruesome. But even when there's no murder, Vidal keeps things taut as he keeps the reader guessing until the end. I'm looking forward to what else Sargeant and Vidal and Edgar Box get up to.
November 21, 2015
BABT
Description: With McCarthyism reaching fever pitch in 1950s America, Peter Sargeant - a dashing PR man - is hired by the Grand St Petersburg ballet to fend off rumours that their star choreographer is a communist. But New York's ballet world is shocked when, on the opening night, the lead ballerina plummets to her death from a wire, maintaining her classical pose in the 'fifth position' as she hits the floor.
Gore Vidal's earlier novel The City and the Pillar was published in 1948 when the author was 23 years old. Its central story of a homosexual relationship caused such a scandal that the New York Times book critic refused to review any book by Gore Vidal. Others followed his lead and the author found himself at a loss as to how to continue to earn a living through his pen until a publisher suggested that he turn his hand to writing under a different name. Death In the Fifth Position was published in 1952 - the first of a trio of entertainments featuring Peter Cutler Sargeant II as a publicist turned private eye.
Episode 1: Peter Sargeant, a young publicist, is invited to the offices of the Grand St Petersburg ballet.2: Our narrator, Peter Sargeant, is beginning to get to know the members of the Grand St Petersburg ballet company. Their complicated relationships have already come to his attention when he overheard the conductor Miles Sutton threatening to kill his wife, Ella, the lead ballerina in the new ballet.3: It becomes clear that Ella Sutton's death was not an accident. What is also clear is that one of the ballerinas is pregnant and the father of the child (as the whole company knows) is Miles Sutton, the conductor and widower.4: At Peter's suggestion, Jane Garden - his new girlfriend - has stepped in to take on the lead role played by the murdered ballerina, Ella Sutton. In the meantime, Detective Gleason has some questions to ask Peter about 'the murder weapon'.5: The story continues with the members of the Grand St Petersburg ballet anticipating the imminent arrest of the husband of the murdered ballerina. Not only had Miles Sutton been asking his wife for a divorce, he was also hiding a serious drug habit. Questions remain however over the murder weapon - the pair of shears found by our narrator, Peter, after the murder took place. The performances of the now sell-out ballet continue as does the investigation, and tonight a wealthy patron holds a party for the company.6: There's shocking news for the cast of the ballet just as everyone is anticipating the arrest of conductor Miles Sutton for the murder of his wife. Peter Sargeant's role as a publicist is rapidly becoming that of detective. 7: With Miles Sutton's death confirmed as a gruesome accident, Detective Gleason declares the case closed. Peter is however a little curious as to why Mr Washburn had been writing letters seeking a replacement for Ella Sutton before she was murdered. Nonetheless they are all looking forward to the final performance in the first run of Eclipse.8: Did she jump or was she pushed. Now there are three deaths.9: Looks like the Russian contingent owns the murderer.10: It would appear that Mr Washburn has decided to let Jane Garden take the fall. He is willing to see her arrested and have her reputation ruined even when she is found innocent, in order for the ballet company to continue its tour. Peter continues to piece together his theory of what happened, but time is running out. He needs to spend some time with Louis to find out what he knows. It's an evening that involves alcohol and a bathhouse.Written by Edgar Box (Gore Vidal)
September 12, 2021
A witty mystery solved by the dashing hero Peter.
Who isn't afraid to get his kit off, drink. in dive bars or use his charm to solve the crime! Not a great read but a fun read never the less.
Vidal's wit shines through in the writing style and the setting also give you a glimpse into the bitchy world of Ballet.
Fun to read, I'll probably read more.
Who isn't afraid to get his kit off, drink. in dive bars or use his charm to solve the crime! Not a great read but a fun read never the less.
Vidal's wit shines through in the writing style and the setting also give you a glimpse into the bitchy world of Ballet.
Fun to read, I'll probably read more.
August 5, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 98 (of 250)
5th Position? Ballet or Bathhouse? Gore Vidal (Edgar Box) is as gossipy here as in his "City and the Pillar." But he does tell us, in his introduction, he understands ballet because in the military and stationed in Fort Richardson, Alaska, his arthritic knees had been treated by ballet classes.
Hook=3 stars: The opening line/paragraph informs us a ballet company is having trouble. The cast is argumentative. It's 1952 and McCarthyism is on hand: picket lines front the ticket office for a "communist" production by the St. Petersburg ballet. A Russian ballet performance in NY during the hunt for McCarthy's TRUE WITCH HUNG is interesting. Plus the author is famous. And has already published the gossipy "City and The Pillar", a risky move that may have derailed Vidal's political career. And, thus, you just know this one is gonna be...
Pace=2 stars: gossipy, like, "He [ballet dancer] pads....a falsie in tights." "Oh no he doesn't" I [male reporter/narrator named Peter Sergeant] says, remembering an attempt by a naked Louis to ravish him (Peter). Peter doesn't much object to the tussle: he just backs out of the room. But that was in the 1950s, and even though McCarthy was running his nutcase campaign, people weren't beating each other up over a 'pick-up' attempt.
Plot=3 stars: A ballet dancer is lifted off the stage to the sun but the chain breaks and she falls to her death. Our reporter investigates all members of the cast, oddly spending one night in gay bars and at bath house: Louis, insisting they both remain naked, gives Peter a tour of numerous varieties of sex, although Peter doesn't participate. I imagine this to be racy stuff in 1952: most straight readers had surely never visited a gay bathhouse. Not many straight reporters could be up for this, certainly. But the plot does have this odd, playful attitude to everything and the resolution is satisfying.
Characters=4 stars. You'll remember Louis and the fact he needs no falsies in his tights, and Peter, the straight reporter (really, his name is Peter!) spending lots of naked time at the insistence of Louis, repeatedly resisting his advances during their oddly numerous nude encounters. There is the much-too-old Prima Ballerina, Anna Eglanova, and she too strips for Peter in her dressing room. No modesty here! Ella Sutton, dancer, is after the "Prima" position. And Jed, the choreographer, plus all the 'boy' dancers, and most of the 'girl' dancers, are lusting for Louis: apparently Louis spends much time all over the sexual spectrum. Nice of Louis to satisfy all desires. Like I said, the book has an "odd, playful attitude' and a number of dark comedic scenes.
Atmosphere=5 stars. Vidal really does paint the ballet scene beautifully: the dancers, the set designers, the choreography. The author takes us on stage, back stage, and into dressing rooms and it feels right. The added communist hunt by McCarthy places us directly in a certain time: the early 1950s. Vidal's goal: politics (and the authoring of books) so he can smartly talk about McCarthyism and does stage a political battle on the stage: the dancers desperation to rise in fame and fortune.
Summary: My overall rating is 3.4. The strength of this very unusual novel is the atmosphere and the cast. The plot is good, goofy at times, but this is a fun read. This is the only crime novel I've ever readset in a ballet company: I like that originality. And Vidal has fun here during the Louis (bisexual) and Peter (straight....maybe) encounters. Peter does his best to emphasis he is straight, though. Louise compliments Peter by saying "Some muscle". Peter replies: "I got it from beating up faggots in Central Park", but readers understand that's not true, it's just Peter doing his best to resist Louis. Near the end of the story, Peter thinks, in double entendre fashion, "But I'll lick them yet...". It's just a matter of timing: eventually, Louis and Peter (in one of the next 2 sequels?) stroll into a Times Square sunset, hand in hand, to a night of debauchery in the nearest bath house. Vidal says he authored this book in 8 days. I'd say he may have typed a rough draft in 8 days, certainly, but a couple of character arcs and attention to detail reveal some very careful editing.
BOOK 98 (of 250)
5th Position? Ballet or Bathhouse? Gore Vidal (Edgar Box) is as gossipy here as in his "City and the Pillar." But he does tell us, in his introduction, he understands ballet because in the military and stationed in Fort Richardson, Alaska, his arthritic knees had been treated by ballet classes.
Hook=3 stars: The opening line/paragraph informs us a ballet company is having trouble. The cast is argumentative. It's 1952 and McCarthyism is on hand: picket lines front the ticket office for a "communist" production by the St. Petersburg ballet. A Russian ballet performance in NY during the hunt for McCarthy's TRUE WITCH HUNG is interesting. Plus the author is famous. And has already published the gossipy "City and The Pillar", a risky move that may have derailed Vidal's political career. And, thus, you just know this one is gonna be...
Pace=2 stars: gossipy, like, "He [ballet dancer] pads....a falsie in tights." "Oh no he doesn't" I [male reporter/narrator named Peter Sergeant] says, remembering an attempt by a naked Louis to ravish him (Peter). Peter doesn't much object to the tussle: he just backs out of the room. But that was in the 1950s, and even though McCarthy was running his nutcase campaign, people weren't beating each other up over a 'pick-up' attempt.
Plot=3 stars: A ballet dancer is lifted off the stage to the sun but the chain breaks and she falls to her death. Our reporter investigates all members of the cast, oddly spending one night in gay bars and at bath house: Louis, insisting they both remain naked, gives Peter a tour of numerous varieties of sex, although Peter doesn't participate. I imagine this to be racy stuff in 1952: most straight readers had surely never visited a gay bathhouse. Not many straight reporters could be up for this, certainly. But the plot does have this odd, playful attitude to everything and the resolution is satisfying.
Characters=4 stars. You'll remember Louis and the fact he needs no falsies in his tights, and Peter, the straight reporter (really, his name is Peter!) spending lots of naked time at the insistence of Louis, repeatedly resisting his advances during their oddly numerous nude encounters. There is the much-too-old Prima Ballerina, Anna Eglanova, and she too strips for Peter in her dressing room. No modesty here! Ella Sutton, dancer, is after the "Prima" position. And Jed, the choreographer, plus all the 'boy' dancers, and most of the 'girl' dancers, are lusting for Louis: apparently Louis spends much time all over the sexual spectrum. Nice of Louis to satisfy all desires. Like I said, the book has an "odd, playful attitude' and a number of dark comedic scenes.
Atmosphere=5 stars. Vidal really does paint the ballet scene beautifully: the dancers, the set designers, the choreography. The author takes us on stage, back stage, and into dressing rooms and it feels right. The added communist hunt by McCarthy places us directly in a certain time: the early 1950s. Vidal's goal: politics (and the authoring of books) so he can smartly talk about McCarthyism and does stage a political battle on the stage: the dancers desperation to rise in fame and fortune.
Summary: My overall rating is 3.4. The strength of this very unusual novel is the atmosphere and the cast. The plot is good, goofy at times, but this is a fun read. This is the only crime novel I've ever readset in a ballet company: I like that originality. And Vidal has fun here during the Louis (bisexual) and Peter (straight....maybe) encounters. Peter does his best to emphasis he is straight, though. Louise compliments Peter by saying "Some muscle". Peter replies: "I got it from beating up faggots in Central Park", but readers understand that's not true, it's just Peter doing his best to resist Louis. Near the end of the story, Peter thinks, in double entendre fashion, "But I'll lick them yet...". It's just a matter of timing: eventually, Louis and Peter (in one of the next 2 sequels?) stroll into a Times Square sunset, hand in hand, to a night of debauchery in the nearest bath house. Vidal says he authored this book in 8 days. I'd say he may have typed a rough draft in 8 days, certainly, but a couple of character arcs and attention to detail reveal some very careful editing.
January 22, 2017
This was Radio 4's Book at Bedtime a couple of months ago*. I only caught one episode but it was very funny.
The book didn't really live up to my expectations. I thought the writing - and the dialogue in particular - would (to steal from ) "click like bright billiard balls". It didn't.
*It was November 2015!
The book didn't really live up to my expectations. I thought the writing - and the dialogue in particular - would (to steal from ) "click like bright billiard balls". It didn't.
*It was November 2015!
January 22, 2016
A young Gore Vidal, behind the pen name "Edgar Box", tries his hand at hard-boiled detective fiction--and does better than many of his later more serious novels. (If you can tolerate his over-compensating sneering about "fags" throughout.) Vidal wrote two other "Edgar Box" books, which are worth reading.
November 22, 2015
From BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime:
With McCarthyism reaching fever pitch in 1950s America, Peter Sargeant - a dashing PR man - is hired by the Grand St Petersburg ballet to fend off rumours that their star choreographer is a communist. But New York's ballet world is shocked when, on the opening night, the lead ballerina plummets to her death from a wire, maintaining her classical pose in the 'fifth position' as she hits the floor.
Gore Vidal's earlier novel The City and the Pillar was published in 1948 when the author was 23 years old. Its central story of a homosexual relationship caused such a scandal that the New York Times book critic refused to review any book by Gore Vidal. Others followed his lead and the author found himself at a loss as to how to continue to earn a living through his pen until a publisher suggested that he turn his hand to writing under a different name. Death In the Fifth Position was published in 1952 - the first of a trio of entertainments featuring Peter Cutler Sargeant II as a publicist turned private eye.
1/2: McCarthyite New York - Gore Vidal (as Edgar Box) entertains with the mysterious death of a ballerina.
2/2: McCarthyite New York. There's shocking news as conductor Miles Sutton faces arrest for his wife's murder.
Written by Edgar Box (Gore Vidal)
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
With McCarthyism reaching fever pitch in 1950s America, Peter Sargeant - a dashing PR man - is hired by the Grand St Petersburg ballet to fend off rumours that their star choreographer is a communist. But New York's ballet world is shocked when, on the opening night, the lead ballerina plummets to her death from a wire, maintaining her classical pose in the 'fifth position' as she hits the floor.
Gore Vidal's earlier novel The City and the Pillar was published in 1948 when the author was 23 years old. Its central story of a homosexual relationship caused such a scandal that the New York Times book critic refused to review any book by Gore Vidal. Others followed his lead and the author found himself at a loss as to how to continue to earn a living through his pen until a publisher suggested that he turn his hand to writing under a different name. Death In the Fifth Position was published in 1952 - the first of a trio of entertainments featuring Peter Cutler Sargeant II as a publicist turned private eye.
1/2: McCarthyite New York - Gore Vidal (as Edgar Box) entertains with the mysterious death of a ballerina.
2/2: McCarthyite New York. There's shocking news as conductor Miles Sutton faces arrest for his wife's murder.
Written by Edgar Box (Gore Vidal)
Read by Jamie Parker
Abridged and Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4.
May 20, 2010
This is second time I've read this. I think it's my favorite detective/mystery story. I remembered who the killer was, but it was the journey which was the thrill. This story is smart and bitchy and loads of fun to read. Highly recommended.
July 4, 2022
Talk about a slice of life mystery, the year is I believe 1950- and Sargent after starting college was yanked into WW2 then upon returning finished college and now is on his own as a publicist/ public relations man. He is hired by a ballet company to deal with picketers protesting that one in this group is a communist. An unusual death ruled murder starts off his time there. For a while, there seems to be a long stall between the murder and an arrest. Other events happen- and Sargent is prompted to investigate who really did the murder. Would say that Edgar Box- alias for Gore Vidal, wrote some rich characters and new a lot of the opinions of the time. I wonder if they were based on specific persons.
An enjoyable read. If the political references of the time weren't there, it could be now.
An enjoyable read. If the political references of the time weren't there, it could be now.
November 21, 2015
Gore Vidal had to write under a different name Edgar Box because due his work's The City and the Pillar content (homosexual relationship) NYT refused to write any reviews of his works. Death in Fifth Position was published in 1952, he wrote twenty-four novels, six plays, two memoirs.
chapters 1-7
First Sentence:
"You see", said Mr Washburn. "We have been havig trouble".
Is there really a spelling mistake already in the first sentence??? (At least in my edition obviously.) It's putting me off.
****
chapters 1-7
First Sentence:
"You see", said Mr Washburn. "We have been havig trouble".
Is there really a spelling mistake already in the first sentence??? (At least in my edition obviously.) It's putting me off.
****
March 9, 2020
Peter is hired by a ballet company to deal with the PR resulting from a proposed picketing of their show from a group believing the choreographer of their new ballet a communist. Only during the first performance of the ballet, the lead dancer is killed from a great fall, so his efforts are re-directed. As more die, Peter's job becomes more difficult and he tries to get answers for himself. Really enjoyed this. Ballet back-stabbing and drama. Fun.
January 23, 2024
This is the second Peter Sargent mystery I’ve read. (I accidentally read the second book first, but the order doesn’t really matter.) A fun Agatha Christie-style whodunnit in a stylish, sexy, late-1950s Madison Avenue setting.
March 30, 2011
The first of the three mystery novels Gore Vidal wrote in the 1950s as Edgar Box - I'm actually reading it in the omnibus volume published in 1978 as
Three by Box.
I've been aware of these for many years and figured it's about time I got around to reading them!
3/30: A fun read: Behind-the-scenes intrigue in a ballet company, sprinkled with Vidal's dry wit, which enabled him to get around some of the social and sexual conventions of the early 1950s.
Vidal's narrator/protagonist, public relations guy Peter Sargeant, is comfortably heterosexual, but he does seem equipped with 'gaydar':
"I settled for Eglanova who was seated on a love seat with an old man and surrounded by younger ones, all rather sensitive I noted with my shrewd and merciless eyes . . . I can tell one of our feathered friends at twenty paces: a certain type anyway. The Louis kind nobody can spot until they’re coming at you . . . then flight is in order, if they’re bigger than you."
Louis is the lead male dancer who fancies himself irresistible, and Peter spends time verbally and physically fending off his advances. Late in the book though, Peter decides that a platonic night on the town with Louis might be beneficial to solving the mystery, and Peter is treated to an eye-opening glimpse of Manhattan's gay life.
Not too long into the relationship between Peter and ballerina Jane Garden comes this morning-after exchange which made me chuckle aloud:
“You sound like you’re still lit,� said Jane, putting on a pink negligee which she had once bought at a sale to make herself look seductive over the morning coffee. Wearing only jockey shorts, I posed like Atlas before the full-length mirror on the bathroom door.
“Do you think I’d make a dancer?�
“You’ve made me, darling,� she said.
“Shall I wash your mouth out with soap?�
“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.
“Not even on alternate Wednesdays?�
And over all of this looms the shadow of the House Un-American Activities Committee...
3/30: A fun read: Behind-the-scenes intrigue in a ballet company, sprinkled with Vidal's dry wit, which enabled him to get around some of the social and sexual conventions of the early 1950s.
Vidal's narrator/protagonist, public relations guy Peter Sargeant, is comfortably heterosexual, but he does seem equipped with 'gaydar':
"I settled for Eglanova who was seated on a love seat with an old man and surrounded by younger ones, all rather sensitive I noted with my shrewd and merciless eyes . . . I can tell one of our feathered friends at twenty paces: a certain type anyway. The Louis kind nobody can spot until they’re coming at you . . . then flight is in order, if they’re bigger than you."
Louis is the lead male dancer who fancies himself irresistible, and Peter spends time verbally and physically fending off his advances. Late in the book though, Peter decides that a platonic night on the town with Louis might be beneficial to solving the mystery, and Peter is treated to an eye-opening glimpse of Manhattan's gay life.
Not too long into the relationship between Peter and ballerina Jane Garden comes this morning-after exchange which made me chuckle aloud:
“You sound like you’re still lit,� said Jane, putting on a pink negligee which she had once bought at a sale to make herself look seductive over the morning coffee. Wearing only jockey shorts, I posed like Atlas before the full-length mirror on the bathroom door.
“Do you think I’d make a dancer?�
“You’ve made me, darling,� she said.
“Shall I wash your mouth out with soap?�
“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.
“Not even on alternate Wednesdays?�
And over all of this looms the shadow of the House Un-American Activities Committee...
February 28, 2012
I like novels written in the fifties, I like mystery novels and I like it when literary lights try their hand (usually pseudonymously) at popular literature. So I expected to love this novel written by Gore Vidal. And I did finish it, but I can't say that I was all that impressed.
First, I found it hard to have any type of sympathy or empathy for the main character. Peter Sargeant is a WASPy product of Harvard and WWII, now man-about-town and and head of his own Public Relations company. He is also compassion-less, self-centered, and about as interesting as a dead fish. When he gets embroiled in a series of murders in the ballet company he represents, the reader just can't care.
Second, it's not much of a mystery. Peter Sargeant fancies himself quite the detective, but in the end he discovers the identity of the murderer by that old chestnut - the switched suitcase. No brain puzzlers here!
Third, the book is full of cliches. The members of the ballet company are stock characters found in novels set in terpsichorean circles : the ageing Russian ballerina with memories of Diaghilev, the ruthlessly ambitious first ballerina, the libidinous first dancer, the temperamental choreographer.
Fourth, the sex scenes are unconvincing. I am sure that casual sex was just as common in the fifties as it is now, but the way Peter embarks on an affair with a young ballerina, within hours of meeting her, an event announced by the laconic words "And so it began." is less than credible. More real estate is devoted to an evening spent in gay bars, nightclubs and bath houses, complete with drag queens and pretty boys. This was probably hot stuff in the fifties, but now it just comes across as another cliche.
In summary : worth reading as a period piece (the cocktails ! the hats! the casual discrimination of women!) but otherwise not particularly noteworthy
First, I found it hard to have any type of sympathy or empathy for the main character. Peter Sargeant is a WASPy product of Harvard and WWII, now man-about-town and and head of his own Public Relations company. He is also compassion-less, self-centered, and about as interesting as a dead fish. When he gets embroiled in a series of murders in the ballet company he represents, the reader just can't care.
Second, it's not much of a mystery. Peter Sargeant fancies himself quite the detective, but in the end he discovers the identity of the murderer by that old chestnut - the switched suitcase. No brain puzzlers here!
Third, the book is full of cliches. The members of the ballet company are stock characters found in novels set in terpsichorean circles : the ageing Russian ballerina with memories of Diaghilev, the ruthlessly ambitious first ballerina, the libidinous first dancer, the temperamental choreographer.
Fourth, the sex scenes are unconvincing. I am sure that casual sex was just as common in the fifties as it is now, but the way Peter embarks on an affair with a young ballerina, within hours of meeting her, an event announced by the laconic words "And so it began." is less than credible. More real estate is devoted to an evening spent in gay bars, nightclubs and bath houses, complete with drag queens and pretty boys. This was probably hot stuff in the fifties, but now it just comes across as another cliche.
In summary : worth reading as a period piece (the cocktails ! the hats! the casual discrimination of women!) but otherwise not particularly noteworthy
January 28, 2018
A book read more for its historical back story than for its literary substance. This book was written by Edgar Box, which in reality, is a pseudonym for Gore Vidal. Written during the Communist witch hunts of the McCarthy era, Vidal's publisher knew that Vidal was being blacklisted by the powers that be and would not be able to sell this novel. Penned in 1952, along with 2 other mystery novels, by Vidal under his pseudonym, the books were published and sold well. His secret authorship was held for 20 years. Even after his secret was told, The New York Times denounced the three newly revealed books that they had previously praised, but under different titles. The book itself is a credible murder mystery, but only special because of its origins. It does reveal a stupendous amount of knowledge about the running and performing of a Metropolitan ballet company, but the plot, characters, and revelations are all of only slightly above average quality. It's the pedigree that counts. Still, a good read, especially for a fan of Gore Vidal.
March 4, 2019
A rather old-fashioned whodunit by Gore Vidal writing as Edgar Box. It's set in a ballet company, and I can't decide whether Vidal boned up on the lives of dancers or whether his view of them was hopelessly out of touch. Of course, this was the late 1940s/early 1950s, and the ballet world was very different then. Vidal didn't have the guts to make his detective gay, but the book reveals so easy a familiarity with the gay world that I'm surprised it was published. He manages to mix in McCarthyism, too. All in all, it's an interesting picture of life at that time, but it's no great shakes as a mystery.
February 12, 2020
Gore Vidal published a late 1940s novel with a sympathetic view of a same-sex relationship. It shocked the book world, evidently, and got his books blacklisted by reviewers. He then published three whodunnits under the Edgar Box pseudonym for anonymity. This one, the first, is from 1952. It is enjoyable for its style (its easygoing wit and cleverness), for its knowledge of life in a ballet troupe (including frankness about same- and opposite-sex goings on), and for the snapshot of Fifties New York during the Red Scare. (I wouldn’t be surprised if the two later Box novels are less labored as mysteries.)
August 21, 2019
In the early 1050's Gore Vidal, writing under the name Edgar Box, wrote three mystery novels featuring Peter Cutler Sargent II, a public relations agent who finds himself at the scenes of murders and set out to solve them. In the Agatha Christie tradition, the deaths occur within a "closed" body of suspects. In this case, the prima ballerina is killed during a performance and the murderer has to be one of the ballet troupe. Sargent is a funny, offbeat, entertaining character who makes the books entertaining.
Read
August 11, 2021Corny pulp fiction, unworthy of Gore Vidal, even given its first publication in 1952. The 2011 introduction gives a reason for its first publication being under a pseudonym (that he couldn’t otherwise get published, because he’d upset the New York Times), but I wasn’t entirely convinced.
The characters are all two dimensional and the stringing along until the final reveal (with a few unconvincing red herrings) was a bit tedious.
I wouldn’t bother unless you like mediocre pulp fiction. A real disappointment. (At least it was a quick read.)
The characters are all two dimensional and the stringing along until the final reveal (with a few unconvincing red herrings) was a bit tedious.
I wouldn’t bother unless you like mediocre pulp fiction. A real disappointment. (At least it was a quick read.)
April 22, 2020
An unusually enjoyable little who done it. I listened to a slightly abridged two and a half hour audio on the BBC instead of reading this book, so I do not evaluate a bound unabridged copy, but I found the story very clear, the style compelling, and there were brief passages of wonderful language. In the end, this book is just a who done it, or, as I prefer, a who cares who done it, but the audio was a very polished presentation.
May 19, 2021
I’m sure Gore Vidal enjoyed writing this more than I enjoyed reading it. Set during McCarthyism era. Flippant and shallow. Supposedly the next two with the same protagonist are better. Not sure I will find out.
June 22, 2017
A hoot. Gore Vidal under a pseudonym. All you need to know. A delight.
July 31, 2017
Interesting problem. Surprise ending. Believable romance. Written first person narrative. Hero too determinedly insouciant.
January 15, 2018
Mixed feelings. Dated content that can be a bit offensive. Interesting to read. The humor fell a little flat on me.
January 29, 2020
A fun period genre piece. The only jarring note is how homophobic his detective is. I know it’s from the 40s but it seemed to come up more than warranted.
December 21, 2020
Very mannered and dated with some rather homophobic statements.
December 24, 2021
An odd little book among the fiction of Gore Vidal, who originally wrote it in the early 1950s under the pseudonym of Edgar Box. Death in the Fifth Position is a classic murder mystery, unravelling the complex politics and shenanigans within a ballet company performing in New York. The narrator, and unofficial detective, is Peter Sargent, a cynical, dishonest public relations consultant (who features in two more books after this). Although amusing, he is an unpleasant individual and intensely homophobic - especially intriguing as Vidal was already in a gay relationship when he wrote the book. The story is filled with gay and bisexual characters and even takes in New York’s gay bars and bathhouses. It is also set within the anti-Communist McCarthyism of the early 1950s, adding a political dimension to the novel. Although a bit dated, it is an interesting, smartly written read.
December 6, 2024
Others have provided details on the story behind Vidal's Edgar Box nom de plume, so there's no need for me to rehash it here. I wanted to love this book, but I'm pretty sure it's the case that Vidal was so deft at creating an uber-butch protagonist- with a simultaneous titillation and disgust for gay men - who was ultimately kind of insufferable.
This was a fun read in many ways, but I couldn't get past the pathologizing of the gay characters.
Adore Gore Vidal but I don't think I will read the other Edgar Box mysteries for now.
This was a fun read in many ways, but I couldn't get past the pathologizing of the gay characters.
Adore Gore Vidal but I don't think I will read the other Edgar Box mysteries for now.
January 13, 2025
Given the fact that this book was written at a period when Gore Vidal was laying low after the impact of The City and the Pillar, I was surprised by how 1950s racy this novel was. Although dated and time by current standards, it felt well ahead of it's time for 1952. It was salacious and lurid in all the best ways as only the real potboilers could be. The characterization is pretty nonexistant but the dialogue is pretty crackling and the wit is top notch. There were times I laughed out loud. I really enjoyed this read.
September 22, 2019
Un giallo (di una serie di tre) scritto negli anni '50 da un giovane Gore Vidal ostracizzato dopo l'uscita del suo romanzo La statua di sale . Una bella trama da classico giallo, scritta bene ed allusioni al tema tabù dell'omosessualità , forse "concesse" dall'ambientazione del mondo del balletto. Da legere anche gli altri due per confermare il giudizio.
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