This image is the cover for the book G-String Murders, Femmes Fatales

G-String Murders, Femmes Fatales

“Burlesque is the background . . . [and] the background is perfect. Recommended for the readers who feel better when their eyebrows are raised.” —The New Yorker

A mystery set in the underworld of burlesque theater, The G-String Murders was penned in 1941 by the legendary queen of the stripteasers—the 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.

Femmes Fatales restores to print the best of women’s writing in the classic pulp genres of the mid-20th century. From mystery to hard-boiled noir to taboo lesbian romance, these rediscovered queens of pulp offer subversive perspectives on a turbulent era. Enjoy the series: Bedelia; Bunny Lake Is Missing; By Cecile; The G-String Murders; The Girls in 3-B; Laura; The Man Who Loved His Wife; Mother Finds a Body; Now, Voyager; Return to Lesbos; Skyscraper; Stranger on Lesbos; Stella Dallas; Women’s Barracks.

“[Lee’s] novel is a rich and lusty job, brimming over with infectious vitality and a hilarious jargon of her own.” —Life

“A lurid, witty and highly competent detective story . . . Rich show business vocabulary and stage door gags make her book almost a social document . . . The G-String Murders builds up to a hair-raising climax.” —Time

Gypsy Rose Lee

Gypsy Rose Lee (1911-1970) was the most acclaimed strip tease artist of her day. She later made 12 films and hosted her own TV show. Her autobiography GYPSY spawned the famed musical and two film versions. She also wrote a sequel to G-STRING MURDERS, MOTHERS FINDS A BODY, and contributed occasional pieces to (Yes!) The New Yorker. Rachel Shteir is the author of STRIPTEASE: THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF THE GIRLIE SHOW, forthcoming from Oxford University Press. She teaches in the Theater Department at DePaul University in Chicago.

The Feminist Press