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Death in the Fifth Position (Peter Cutler Sargeant II #1)
by
Edgar Box ,
Gore Vidal
In Death in the Fifth Position, dashing P.R. man Peter Sargent is hired by a ballet company on the eve of a major upcoming performance. Handling the press seems to be no problem, but when a rising star in the company is killed during the performance—dropped from thirty feet above the stage, crashing to her death in a perfect fifth position—Sargent has a real case on his ha...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
March 22nd 2011
by Vintage
(first published 1952)
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As a murder mystery I don't recommend this. Its appeal is as a cultural and historical artifact: Gore Vidal wrote this, under a pseudonym, during the era of Joe McCarthy. At age 23 in 1948, he had written The City and the Pillar, which had been heavily panned for its shocking portrayal of homosexuality, so to make a buck, the young author changed his name and took a stab at mystery novels.
A surprisingly strong undercurrent of nonchalance toward and awareness of homosexuality and an underground...more
A surprisingly strong undercurrent of nonchalance toward and awareness of homosexuality and an underground...more
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...more
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...more
This is not a good mystery, nor is it a good book.
Partly, I suppose, the early-1950s sensibility grates, especially in the handling of women, gay men, and lesbians. None of the characters came alive for me; they were all cardboard figures doing what the plot- such as it was- required, not acting like people. The plot was very timely at the time, but structurally weak; at the end, it looks like Our Hero uncovered the murderer only by accident, since his "aha!" of guilty knowledge from the guy was...more
Partly, I suppose, the early-1950s sensibility grates, especially in the handling of women, gay men, and lesbians. None of the characters came alive for me; they were all cardboard figures doing what the plot- such as it was- required, not acting like people. The plot was very timely at the time, but structurally weak; at the end, it looks like Our Hero uncovered the murderer only by accident, since his "aha!" of guilty knowledge from the guy was...more
This is the second book that I have ready by Edgar Box, otherwise known as Gore Vidal.
The story is one about a public relations man named Peter Sargent, who is hired by a ballet company in which people start to die. Sargent, who I think acts mighty silly through the whole book, somehow falls in with one of the dancers, moving into her apartment. The whole story is pretty ridiculous and unreal. I didn't like any of these one dimensional characters and wasn't surprised by the ending. And I was dis...more
The story is one about a public relations man named Peter Sargent, who is hired by a ballet company in which people start to die. Sargent, who I think acts mighty silly through the whole book, somehow falls in with one of the dancers, moving into her apartment. The whole story is pretty ridiculous and unreal. I didn't like any of these one dimensional characters and wasn't surprised by the ending. And I was dis...more
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...more
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...more
Gore Vidal writing under a pseudonym? Described as "the forerunner of the mod-and-sex mystery"? How could it go so wrong?
Ultimately, the murderer was predictable. The stakes seemed low, despite multiple murders, since we never really met the people who died. And the many things included to be scandalous/titillating when Vidal was writing it just aren't anymore (homosexuality, get out of town) so there's lots of passages that are meant to be exciting but are actually quite boring.
The second sta...more
Ultimately, the murderer was predictable. The stakes seemed low, despite multiple murders, since we never really met the people who died. And the many things included to be scandalous/titillating when Vidal was writing it just aren't anymore (homosexuality, get out of town) so there's lots of passages that are meant to be exciting but are actually quite boring.
The second sta...more
Aug 13, 2012
Sandi
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
crime-mystery-thriller-suspense,
read-2012
This was the first of three mysteries that Gore Vidal wrote under the name of Edgar Box back in the Fifties. The lead character,a PR man, was a bit too slick but the pace was quick and interplay between the ballet company members was entertaining.
Gore Vidal/Edgar Box's wry, ironic social observation works much better in his novels than in this mystery. Relationships are essential to the solution, and Vidal's relationships work themselves out in a Rubik's Cube fashion. The special interest here is the look into the world of 1950s ballet.
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.
It was pretty good. If I didn't know it was written by a gay man I might be really offended. He writes a typical heterosexual of the period and a lot of what he says would be offensive know, no matter who said it...
I think I bought this at a second-hand book sale and for what I paid for it it was okay. An early literary effort by Gore Vidal (writing under a pen name he explains in the intro).
The first in the series and lots of fun.
Mystery by "Edgar Box" aka Gore Vidal...catty as expected and easy to read and lots of fun.
Interesting little mystery.
A wonderful period piece combined with a clever murder mystery. Smart, bitchy and fun.
I love Gore Vidal's style. Salinger's irreverence with Waugh's wit.
iBook, own
Jun 12, 2013
Daniel
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
richard-burton-diaries
May 21, 2013
Ann
marked it as to-read
Feb 23, 2013
David
marked it as to-read
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“There is something about the state putting the power to bully into the hands of subnormal, sadistic apes that makes my blood boil.”
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