In his impressive and confident debut, Michael Wiley delivers a thrilling tale about how greed and revenge play out on the streets of Chicago. Private eye Joe Kozmarski has just been asked to clear his childhood friend Bob Piedras of murder. Bob's latest girlfriend, a young Vietnamese-American beauty, has turned up dead in an airport hotel. No one's very surprised. She had a taste for hard liquor, drugs, and stripping in front of a camera. And Bob has a history of violence. But Bob's boss, retired judge Peter Rifkin, is convinced Bob is innocent and he thinks Joe is the one to find the real killer. But Joe's life is complicated. He hasn't spoken to Rifkin for fifteen years---ever since his father, now dead, found out that the judge had double-crossed him. The dead woman's brothers, a pair of tough guys, are bent on being the first to find and punish her murderer. On top of that, Joe and his wife have separated and his mother has dropped his eleven-year-old nephew on him. But the more obstacles Joe encounters, the more determined he becomes to see this case through. Since its beginning, the PWA/SMP Best First Private Eye Novel Contest has accomplished its mission of finding amazing new talent in mystery writing. With vividly realized characters and a page-turning story line, The Last Striptease is the latest in what has become a long tradition of excellent crime fiction.

This first complete history of a century of striptease is filled with rare photographs and period illustrations.

Burlesque. A unique form of entertainment...and one of the most celebrated forms in burlesque was that of the inimitable Lili St. Cyr. Her body of work as a striptease artist - featuring her innovative on-stage bubble baths and reverse stripteases - was on a level with such dazzling performers as Gypsy Rose Lee and Blaze Starr. And wherever the glamorous Queen of Burlesque appeared, controversy followed. Gilded Lili is the first biography of this pioneering artist, sure to be a smash as burlesque enjoys its own resurgence. Her tempestuous love affairs and troubled life mirror the social changes in sexual politics and the commercialisation of sexuality. A compelling biography and an intriguing take on feminist history, Gilded Lili is golden indeed.

Famed photographer Sheryl Nields brings burlesque superstar Dita Von Teese to life in a series of flip books that capture the dancer′s most intimate performances. A perfect collectible book for fans of Dita, classic burlesque devotees, or for anyone who loves a playful and beautifully packaged book, DITA: STRIPTEASE is an exquisite visual tribute to this one-of-a-kind performer, featuring three of her most beloved dances: Martini Glass Show: Performed all over the world, the martini glass show is Dita′s most famous burlesque act. Featuring her in her "Diamonds in the Buff" costume, Dita performs a traditional striptease that culminates with her bathing herself in an oversize martini glass, complete with olive sponge. Bird of Paradise Show: Inside a posh gilded Victorian birdcage, burlesque′s brightest star reinvents the classic feather fan dance with two lush oversize feather fans of exotic, rare magenta pheasant feathers. In an extraordinary costume of beautifully curved feathers, Dita spins around on her golden perch, and treats audiences to an unforgettable wet and wild finale as sparkling water showers over her body. Classic Striptease: This striptease features Dita dressed in a vintage suit complete with a veiled hat, seamed stockings, and sky-high stilettos. Audiences get a glimpse into Dita′s personal wardrobe-and what she reveals underneath it!

From advertising to health education campaigns, sex and sexual imagery now permeate every aspect of culture. Striptease Culture explores the 'sexualization' of contemporary life, relating it to wider changes in post-war society. Striptease Culture is divided in to three sections: * Part one - traces the development of pornography, following its movement from elite to mass culture and the contemporary fascination with 'porno-chic' * Part two - considers popular cultural forms of sexual representation in the media, moving from backlash elements in straight male culture and changing images of women, to the representation of gays in contemporary film and television * Part three - looks at the use of sexuality in contemporary art, examinging the artistic 'striptease' of Jeff Koons, and others who have used their own naked bodies in their work. Also considering how feminist and gay artists have employed sexuality in the critique and transformation of patriarchy, the high profile of sexuality as a key contributor to public health education in the era of HIV and AIDS, and the implications of the rise of striptease culture for the future of sexual poltics, Brian McNair has produced an excellent book in the study of gender, sexuality and contemporary culture.

Winner of the Shamus Award for Best Novel Working late-night surveillance at a luxury condominium development, Chicago private investigator Joe Kozmarski encounters a burglary crew. Two of the crew members show up in a police cruiser dressed in uniform. In the chaos that follows, Kozmarski shoots and kills one of the thieves, who, like the rest of the crew, is one of Chicago's Finest. And just like that Kozmarski finds he's in for many a bad night's sleep. Kozmarski joins the burglary crew, working as an inside agent for his old friend Lieutenant Bill Gubman. Facing dangerous suspicions from both the criminal gang and the uncorrupted ranks of the police department, uncertain about who wishes to help him stay alive and who wishes to kill him, Kozmarski takes his wildest ride yet. A Bad Night's Sleep pushes full throttle through the streets of Chicago to a stunning conclusion.

A true icon of America at a turning point in its history, Gypsy Rose Lee was the firstand the onlystripper to become a household name, write novels, and win the adulation of intellectuals, bankers, socialites, and ordinary Americans. Her outrageous blend of funny-smart sex symbol with the aura of high cultureshe boasted that she liked to read Great Books and listen to classical music while taking off her clothes on-stageinspired a musical, memoirs, a portrait by Max Ernst, and a species of rose. Gypsy is the first book about Gypsy Rose Lees life, fame, and place in America not written by a family member, and it reveals her deep impact on the social and cultural transformations taking shape during her life. Rachel Shteir, author of the prize-winning Striptease, gives us Gypsys story from her arrival in New York in 1931 to her sojourns in Hollywood, her friendships and rivalries with writers and artists, the Sondheim musical, family memoirs that retold her history in divergent ways, and a television biopic currently in the making. With verve, audacity, and native guile, Gypsy Rose Lee moved striptease from the margins of American life to Broadway, Hollywood, and Main Street. Gypsy tells how she did it, and why.