A Stewart 'Hoagy' Hoag Mystery Series by David Handler
A Stewart 'Hoagy' Hoag Mystery #2
The Man Who Lived by Night
David Handler
Hoagy discovers a rock god’s deadly side is more than an actFrom the first time they played on the Ed Sullivan Show, Us was the hottest band on earth. For more than a decade, the group tore through the charts and indulged in an endless cycle of drugs, women, and violence, until two musicians died—the drummer by drugs, the guitarist by a crazed gunman. Once the band was finished, lead singer Tristam Scarr retreated to the English countryside, hiding from the world until the day he hires an American to ghostwrite his memoirs. Stewart Hoag arrives in London in the company of Lulu, his ever-hungry basset hound, to find the rock idol of his youth reduced to a wheezing, frail fortysomething. The first thing Starr tells him is that their drummer never overdosed—he was murdered. And as their interviews progress, Hoagy learns that working for a rock star is almost as dangerous as being one.
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A Stewart 'Hoagy' Hoag Mystery #4
The Woman Who Fell From Grace
David Handler
Ghostwriting a sequel to Oh, Shenandoah, Hoagy believes he has landed an opportunity that will re-launch his career, until he is confronted with an otherworldly collaborator, family skeletons, and a handful of murders. Reissue. PW. From Publishers WeeklyIn his first hardcover appearance, novelist/ghost writer Hoagy Hoag, seen last in The Man Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald , takes on the assignment of a lifetime--to write the sequel to the most popular novel in publishing history, Oh, Shenandoah . Alma Glaze, author of the sweeping tale of the Revolutionary War, was killed in an accident 50 years earlier, right after the equally popular film of the book was completed. When Hoagy agrees to the project, he takes on some alarming partners: domineering Mavis Glaze, Alma's sole heir; her twin brothers, Frederick and Edward, mostly dependent on their sister for financing; and nubile Mercy Glaze, Mavis's only child and heir to the Shenandoah fortune. The family housekeeper is found dead after suggesting that the mysterious death of one of the stars, which also occurred right after the film's completion, was murder. Despite the displeasure of the local sheriff, Mercy's fiance, Hoagy investigates. As he digs for ancient secrets and copes with another murder and an alienated young orphan, preparations for a vast anniversary celebration swirl around him. Handler's breezy, unpretentious and warm-hearted hero provides a breath of fresh air in a world of investigative angst. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus ReviewsEdgar-winning Handler's hardcover debut--another headliner in Doubleday's new Perfect Crime series--takes his ghostwriter-sleuth Stewart Hoag to Staunton, Virginia, to work on the sequel to beloved historical blockbuster Oh, Shenandoah, at the request of the family of author Alma Glaze, killed 50 years ago in a car accident. Sound familiar? Well, Alma's diary of the filming of Oh, Shenandoah puts Hoagy on the trail of a Hollywood murder and coverup, and suggests that Alma's own death was no accident. And while he's trying to sell the Glaze family (smooth, elderly twins Edward and Frederick and their crazy sister Mavis) on his theory, the present-day cast starts to get killed off too. Full of incredible coincidences and too cute by half--but Hoagy's laid-back humor is easy to take, and the convoluted mystery will keep you guessing midway through the finale. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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A Stewart 'Hoagy' Hoag Mystery #5
The Boy Who Never Grew Up
David Handler
THIS PEN FOR HIREOnce Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag was the toast of the publishing world and husband of luscious Broadway beauty Merilee Nash. But fame and fortune left him as swiftly and surely as Merilee. Now Hoagy ekes out a living as a ghostwriter of celebrity memoirs and a reluctant amateur detective, aided by his cat-food-eating basset hound named Lulu.IF LIFE WERE LIKE THE MOVIES, STEWART HOAG WOULD BE OUT OF WORK....But for better or worse there are enough unhappy endings in Hollywood to keep Hoagy gainfully employed -- with work left over for hatchet-wielding hacks like Cassandra Dee. Hoagy and Cassandra are working both ends of the celebrity divorce of the decade, the breakup that makes Donald and Ivana look like puppy love. In one corner, Hollywood gee-whiz kid Matthew Wax, the director whose celluloid schmaltz has made him a multimillionaire; in the other, his beautiful leading lady Pennyroyal Brim. Hoagy's got a herculean task ahead of him in trying to dig up the truth about the House of Wax--Matthew is surrounded by the false fronts of his fictional all-American vision. But this time reality can't be held at bay with a nicely scripted happy ending, and soon Matthew Wax's life is looking less like It's a Wonderful Life -- and more like Nightmare on Elm Street.
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A Stewart 'Hoagy' Hoag Mystery #6
The Man Who Cancelled Himself
David Handler
Hired by fallen television star Lyle Hudnut, whose career was shattered by scandal, writer Stewart Hoag reluctantly begins penning the actor's memoirs and learns a deadly truth about a network's secret practices. Reprint.From Publishers WeeklyGreat fun from Handler in his sixth Stewart Hoag adventure (The Boy Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald won an Edgar in 1991), despite its overwrought climax and a villain whom psychologically hip readers will spot before the actual unmasking. Former literary boy-wonder Hoagy has sunk to ghosting the showbiz autobio of children's TV star Lyle ("Uncle Chubby") Hudnut, who's attempting a comeback after an arrest for indecent exposure in a Times Square porn theater. Lyle, a 300-pound bundle of crazed energy, ego and cruelty, is sure that someone-or the world-is out to get him and believes the book will generate sympathy. There are personal complications: Lyle's co-star is his ex-wife; the network's executive producer is an ex-girlfriend; his current fiancee is the show's producer, a spot coveted by an assistant producer; and the show's writers are angling for control. A fire on the set, food poisoning and the bizarre murder of the newest cast member wreak havoc. A subplot involves Hoagy's celebrity ex-wife, who's pregnant and won't identify the father, but the best part of the book is Hoagy's gimlet-eyed observations of the fierce, delicious and dizzy infighting in Sitcom Land. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalHandler (The Boy Who Never Grew Up, LJ 9/1/92) presents celebrity ghostwriter Steward Hoag who, on hand to author a book about television comic Lyle Hudnut, finds himself in the midst of mayhem and murder after Lyle's arrest in a porno movie theater. Stewart's dog, Lulu, and his ex-wife, actress Merilee, complicate matters.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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A Stewart 'Hoagy' Hoag Mystery #7
The Girl Who Ran Off With Daddy
David Handler
Hoagy takes up his pen to defend a friend who’s done the indefensible Stewart Hoag has quit ghostwriting. Living in Connecticut with his ex-wife, Hoagy works on a novel and tends to Tracy, his brand-new daughter, who’s more beautiful than anything he’s ever written and only took nine months to make. Life is peaceful, until Thor Gibbs arrives to tear it apart.An unapologetically swaggering author, Thor is past seventy but still looks like the brash young man who befriended an aging Hemingway and inspired the first of the Beat poets. Once he was Hoagy’s mentor, but now he needs his help. Thor is in the middle of a tryst with his eighteen-year-old stepdaughter, and every newspaper, lawyer, and cop in the country wants him strung up from the highest tree. He hires Hoagy to help the beautiful young woman tell their side of the story. But trouble is following the controversial couple, and death is about to visit the cottage. From Publishers WeeklyStewart "Hoagy" Hoag, the ghostwriter who often stumbles into celebrity murder (The Man Who Cancelled Himself), is trying to enjoy the quiet country life in Connecticut with ex-wife Merilee and their baby when trouble roars up on a motorcycle. It's Hoagy's old friend Thor Gibbs, a legendary author who began with the Beats and lately trades in male-backlash writing. Thor has run off with his wife's daughter, Clethra, a lovely but apparently empty-headed 18-year-old. Hoagy agrees to take them in and help Clethra write her stormy story. When Thor's body is found in a pond on Hoagy and Merilee's farm, suspicion falls on the abandoned wife, a pioneering feminist. Other suspects include Clethra's father, his gay lover, Clethra's other boyfriends and a crew of local rowdies. With help from two unlikely police allies, Hoagy finally gets face-to-face with the killer. Handler controls his material masterfully, delivering newsy verisimilitude and domestic repartee worthy of Nick and Nora Charles. Notable also is Lulu, Hoagy's possessive and intuitive basset hound, who almost steals the show from this thoroughly entertaining cast of characters. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalUnlike most formulas, this series does not begin with the discovery of a dead body. Instead, Handler grabs the reader's attention with an interesting premise. Famous 71-year-old author Thor Gibb leaves his equally famous feminist wife for her misguided 18-year-old daughter. To escape media attention, the pair drop in on series protagonist Stewart Hoag in Lyme, Connecticut; however, a murder upsets their plans. Hoag's wife and baby escape to New York, and Hoag and his long-suffering basset hound, Lulu, are left to solve the case. Good psychological depth, sharp wit, and a slow-moving but thoroughly satisfying plot.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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A Stewart 'Hoagy' Hoag Mystery #8
The Man Who Loved Women to Death
David Handler
A serial killer is showing Hoagy his novel in progress--and every chapter is murder....Once Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag was the toast of the publishing world and the husband of luscious Broadway beauty Merilee Nash. Now, reunited with Merilee in proud parenthood, Hoagy ghosts celebrity memoirs to pay the rent. And solves the occasional murder, aided by Lulu, his anchovy-eating basset hound.A ghostwriter usually chooses his clients, but this time Hoagy finds himself chosen. His new client calls himself the Answer Man, and he's mailing Hoagy anonymous installments of his work in progress. Each one narrates the stalking and strangling of a lovely young woman--and it's no sooner in Hoagy's mailbox than the cops find her corpse: branded with orange-lipstick question marks. Hoagy's deadly pen pal--bent on a megabestseller and a movie deal--is seeking his literary advice, and Hoagy's being tagged by both the police and the press as a twisted killer's go-between.Hoagy has some questions of his own for the elusive Answer Man. But the closer he gets to the truth, the less he likes what he finds. For Hoagy fears the prolific killer may be someone too close to him for comfort. And that the next chapter of the Answer Man's grisly opus might be Hoagy's last.From Library JournalGhost-writer Stewart Hoag confronts the biggest challenge of both his writing and sleuthing careers. A calculating serial killer in New York writes about his crimes as they occur and sends the chapters to Hoag, his "collaborator." Pressured by police and press, Hoag suspects an old friend. Fun reading from the author of The Girl Who Ran Off with Daddy (LJ 2/1/96).Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistNearly 30 years ago, three boys became friends: unassuming, nerdy Ezra Spooner; Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag, who became a famous writer; and Tuttle Cash, the golden boy who had everything. The three eventually drifted apart, but they're about to be reunited in a most chilling manner. Hoagy recently received the first chapter of an unsolicited manuscript from an unidentified author. The chapter is a daring, violent, menacing, and brilliant story about a serial killer who befriends a young woman who works in a pet store and then strangles her with a lamp cord. A few days later, to Hoagy's horror, the body of a young woman--a pet-store employee--is found. The victim's physical description, the modus operandi, and the location of the body are identical to the murder described in the chapter Hoagy received. Teaming up with his old nemesis, hip, hyper NYPD Lieutenant Romaine Very, Hoagy struggles to make sense of the chilling case and soon finds himself suspecting that one of his old pals may be the killer. Handler has written a sleek, sophisticated, over-the-top story that's filled with red herrings, laugh-aloud humor, and plenty of suspense. Four stars. Emily Melton
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