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 star is just because it's still Gore Vidal and when he wants to be mean, it's great.