Death in the Fifth Position

Written by Gore Vidal and Edgar Box

Narrated by Mikael Naramore

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 hands. As he ingratiates himself with the players behind the scenes (especially one lovely young ballerina), he finds that this seemingly graceful ballet company is performing their most dramatic acts behind the curtain. There are sharp rivalries, sordid affairs, and shady characters. Sargent, though, has no trouble staying on point and proving that the ballerina killer is no match for his keen eye and raffish charm.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Aug 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543696929

Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal (1925–2012) was born at the United States Military Academy at West Point. His first novel, Williwaw, written when he was 19 years old and serving in the army, appeared in the spring of 1946. He wrote 23 novels, five plays, many screenplays, short stories, well over 200 essays, and a memoir.

Reviews for Death in the Fifth Position

[dbsovereign · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gore Vidal's mysteries are really satirical comedies poking fun at a society that dared to black list him. Short on mystery, but high comedy.

[lydiasbooks · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Well read and decent characterisation but really quite boring. You could probably think of a better plot easily. I listened to this because of the ballet connection and I find audio a really accessible format for me. Wouldn't have persevered with the paper book.

[cissa_5 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

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.