[moderate wear to top and bottom edges, tiny nick in cloth at bottom of front cover; jacket is edgeworn, with various small chips and tears, larger chip at top left corner of front panel (and extending into top of spine) that has removed quite a bit of the spine title]. SIGNED by the author (as Gore Vidal) on the title page. The first of Vidal's three mystery novels under the Box pseudonym, published in rapid succession in the early 1950s, after which he abandoned the genre (even though the books remained in print in paperback for many years thereafter). Francis Nevins's verdict on the Box mysteries, all of which featured the protagonist Peter Cutler Sargeant III, was that "judged as formal detective novels all three are mediocre, but Vidal's guided tour through the worlds of art, politics, and high society entertains us royally with countless gleefully sardonic jabs at every target in sight." This one is backgrounded in the ballet world. Signed by Author