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
DEATH IN THE FIFTH POSITION. (1952). Edgar Box (pseud. of Gore Vidal). ****.This was the first of three mystery novels written by Mr. Vidal under the pseudonym Edgar Box. This particular edition contains a preface by the author that explains why the pen name and why it was used; an interesting story in itself. As you might guess from the title, the mystery has something to do with ballet. In this case, our protagonist, Peter Sargeant, is introduced. He is a young man who owns a small public relations firm. He had been retained by the president of a ballet company to act as their p.r. needs. On the first day of his on the job, the star dancer, in a new segment for the program, falls to her death while being hoisted to the top of the stage by a cable. Turns out that the cable had been mostly cut through using industrial strength shears. There are lots of suspects: most of the rest of the company, along with investors and other public figures. It later turns out that the actual murderer was someone whom we suspected all along but were too busy angling for red herrings to focus on. One murder was not enough for our killer. Two more people had to die before our p.r. guy finally latches on to the right perp. This is an intelligent mystery in the classic form that should appeal to all devoted mystery fans. Snappy dialog and steamy sex help us to keep turning pages. Recommended.
Do You like book Death In The Fifth Position (1991)?
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.
—Noah
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 contradicted by someone else having casually mentioned it to the "guilty" one, which pretty much left the whole deduction ambiguous- not that this concerned our hero for more than a moment.Also: why is it "lecherous" for other men to ogle ballerina's tits, but normal and healthy and even alluring when Our Hero does it? (It sure seemed to get the Pretty Girl to fall into bed with him promptly.)So, in short- a badly-plotted, badly written pseudo-mystery with 100% cardboard characters.
—Cissa
