Stewart Hoag Mystery

Down on his luck, a writer takes a ghostwriting job for a troubled comedian. Stewart Hoag's first novel made him the toast of New York. Everyone in Manhattan wanted to be his friend, and he traveled the cocktail circuit supported by Merilee, his wife, and Lulu, his basset hound. But when writer's block sunk his second novel, his friends, money, and wife all disappeared. Only Lulu stuck by him.   The only opportunity left is ghostwriting, an undignified profession that still beats dental school. His first client is Sonny Day, an aging comic who was the king of slapstick three decades ago. Since he and his partner had a falling out in the late 1950s, Day has grown embittered and poor, until the only thing left for him to do is write a memoir. Hoagy and Lulu fly to Hollywood expecting a few months of sunshine and easy living. Instead they find Day's corpse, and a murder rap with Hoagy's name on it.

Hoagy discovers a rock god's deadly side is more than an act. From 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.

Hoagy tries to save a client from the deadly world of high-stakes publishing. Stewart Hoag knows how quickly fame can fade. The same critics who adored his first novel used his second for target practice, ending his literary career once and for all. To keep his basset hound fed, Hoagy ghostwrites memoirs for the rich, famous, and self-destructive. His newest subject reminds him all too much of himself.   By the age of twenty, Cam Noyes is already being hailed as the next F. Scott Fitzgerald. Though he's only published one book, Cam runs with the big boys: dating artists, trashing restaurants, and ending every night in a haze of tequila and cocaine. So glamorous is his lifestyle that he's having trouble starting his second novel, forcing his agent to hire Hoagy to get the little genius working on a memoir instead. As Hoagy digs into the kid's life story, he learns that New York publishing is even more cutthroat than he thought.

A sequel to a fifty-year-old book puts Hoagy on the scent of a long-cold murder case. Few American novels are as beloved as Alma Glaze's Revolutionary War epic, Oh, Shenandoah. Although Glaze died before she could write a sequel, she left behind an outline for one, along with instructions that it not be written until fifty years after her death. The deadline has passed, and the American public clamors for the long-promised Sweet Land of Liberty. Only one thing stands in its way: Glaze's heirs.   Her daughter, socialite Mavis Glaze, is writing the novel under guidance from her mother, who she claims has been appearing in her dreams. As Mavis's writing spirals farther into madness, her brothers hire Stewart Hoag, a ghostwriter famous for dealing with troublesome celebrities. When he arrives at the family's Virginia manor, he finds that Alma's is not the only unsettled spirit. Blood was spilt for Oh, Shenandoah, and more will die before the sequel hits the bestseller list.

A famous director, mired in a nasty divorce, hires Hoagy to salvage his name. In Matthew Wax's films, politicians are honest, parents are respected, and nice guys finish first.  Wax has been Hollywood's most beloved director for decades, and his personal life seemed as squeaky-clean as the world of his films. But when he and his wife, leading lady Pennyroyal Brim, file for divorce, the mud starts to fly. She accuses him of bedroom tyranny, sexual perversion, and every stripe of abuse. When she announces a tell-all memoir, Wax fires back the only way he can. He calls Stewart Hoag, ghostwriter to the stars.   To tell Wax's side of the story, Hoagy and his basset hound Lulu have to get closer to the boy wonder than anyone ever has. The true story of the man behind America's most family-friendly films is even darker than the press suspects, and people will die to keep it hidden from view.

When America's favorite sitcom star disgraces himself, Hoagy steps in. Lyle Hednut, known to America as Uncle Chubby, has been the top draw in television comedy for three seasons straight. He is three hundred pounds of good humor and wholesome charm, beloved by children and adults alike until the day the police find him enjoying the show at the wrong kind of movie theater in Times Square. The arrest destroys his image, but his sitcom is too popular for the network to shut down. About to start production on the fourth season, he decides to tell his side of the story, and hires Stewart Hoag, failed novelist and ghostwriter for the disgraced, to do the writing.   Hoagy quickly sees that Uncle Chubby's cheer is no more than an act. The comedy icon is thin-skinned, irrational, and prone to rage. With a man like that in charge of a TV show, it won't be long before comedy violence turns into the real thing.

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.

A killer with a novelist's touch wants Hoagy to be his editor. The author calls himself the Answer Man. He introduces himself to Stewart Hoag, onetime literary darling of the New York scene, with a letter begging for help with his first novel. Hoagy usually ignores such requests, but the Answer Man's sample chapter grabs his attention. It is a chilling, first-person story about a man who picks up a girl in a pet shop, takes her home, and savagely murders her. The imagery is clear, the prose strong, and the storytelling as truthful as though the author had actually lived it. When he opens the next morning's paper, Hoagy realizes he was reading nonfiction.   A young pet shop employee has been bludgeoned to death, and the crime's details match those in the manuscript. As the Answer Man keeps killing, he continues writing letters asking Hoagy to collaborate with him. If Hoagy can't stop him soon, he may find himself starring in the book's next chapter.

The latest installment of David Handler's Edgar Award-winning Stewart Hoag mystery series, set in 1990s' New York, sees the ghostwriter-sleuth and his faithful basset hound Lulu inadvertently make a dangerous enemy. After six glorious weeks of hard work on his long-overdue second novel, celebrity-ghostwriter Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag has hit a crossroads in his plot. He thinks a change of scenery will do him good - and he knows just the place. His ex-wife, the actress Merilee Nash, has offered him the use of her idyllic Connecticut farmhouse, while she's away shooting a movie in Budapest. Hoagy and his beloved basset hound Lulu settle in for a few days' rest and relaxation. Hoagy expects fall splendor, long walks and crisp night air. He doesn't expect Merilee's eccentric, unwelcoming neighbor. Austin Talmadge warns Hoagy not to get on his bad side, but what harm can a country oddball like Austin do? Quite a lot, it turns out. All Hoagy wants to do is relax and clear his head, but soon he's caught up in a strange, complex mystery - and he'll need all his wits about him, and Lulu's unerring nose, if he's to come out of this one alive . . .

In the next novel in David Handler's Edgar award-winning series, Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag and his beloved basset hound, Lulu, investigate a murder in a fabled Connecticut summer playhouse Hollywood ghostwriter Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag has chronicled the rise, fall, and triumphant return of many a celebrity. At last he's enjoying his own, very welcome second act. After hitting a creative slump following the success of his debut novel, Hoagy has found inspiration again. Ensconced with his faithful but cowardly basset hound, Lulu, on a Connecticut farm belonging to his ex-wife, Oscar-winning actress Merilee Nash, he's busy working on a new novel. He's even holding out hope that he and Merilee might get together again. Life is simple and fulfilling-which of course means it's time for complications to set in…. When the police call to ask if he knows the whereabouts of a man named R.J. Romero, Hoagy learns of a dark secret from his ex-wife's past. It's already a stressful time for Merilee, who's directing a gala benefit production of PrivateLives to rescue the famed but dilapidated Sherbourne Playhouse, where the likes of Katherine Hepburn, Marlon Brando and Merilee herself made their professional stage debuts. Her reputation, as well as the playhouse's future, is at stake. The cast features three of Merilee's equally famous Oscar-winning classmates from the Yale School of Drama. But it turns out that there's more linking them to each other-and to their fellow Yale alum, R.J.-than their alma mater. When one of the cast is found murdered, it will take Hoagy's sleuthing skills and Lulu's infallible nose to sniff out the truth…before someone else faces the final curtain call.

The next clever, witty, and touching installment in the Edgar award-winning Stewart Hoag mystery series finds the beloved ghostwriter-sleuth and his faithful neurotic basset hound, Lulu, back in 1990's New York City, investigating a bestselling author's stolen manuscript and three murders linked to the crime. Washed-up celebrity ghostwriter Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag has finally rediscovered his voice and is making progress on what he hopes will be his long-awaited second novel. Burrowed up in his less-than-luxurious, sweltering fifth floor walk-up, he tries not to think of the disparities between himself and his ex-wife, celebrity actress Merilee Nash, who is sifting through film offers-and also her fickle feelings for Hoagy-from her elegant eight-room apartment looking over Central Park. When Merilee offers her home for Hoagy's use while she's shooting on location, hope blossoms that he might finally get some real work done… and solidify their rekindling romance. Then Hoagy receives a call from his literary agent asking if he can meet with publishing's most ruthless and reviled editor, Sylvia James, for a drink at the Algonquin Hotel. After disclosing that aging literary genius Addison James-also Sylvia's father and main client-has not in fact written his last two bestselling historical sagas, Sylvia reveals her suspicions that Addison's assistant Tommy O'Brien-the true author-has run away with their most recent manuscript and is holding it for ransom. Tempted by Sylvia's offer to bid a hefty advance for his novel-in-progress, Hoagy agrees to help unearth Tommy's sudden disappearance. If only he'd known exactly what he was getting himself into, he might've saved himself from the ensuing grief that follows in his hot pursuit of Tommy. But then, that wouldn't be a normal day in the life of Hoagy. With clattering claims of a mugging, a stolen manuscript, and three murders, now it's up to Hoagy and his short-legged sidekick Lulu to unravel this baffling, bizarre case.

HARLAN COBEN calls it "One of my all-time favorite series! ...David Handler is so good at writing one smart, funny page-turner after another that he makes it look easy."  Fans of JANET EVANOVICH and CARL HIAASEN, get ready. If you haven't yet discovered wisecracking sleuth Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag and his faithful basset hound Lulu, you're in for a sharp, hilarious treat. Once upon a time, Hoagy had it all: a hugely successful debut novel, a gorgeous celebrity wife, the glamorous world of New York City at his feet. These days, he scrapes by as a celebrity ghostwriter. A celebrity ghostwriter who finds himself investigating murders more often than he'd like. And once upon a time, Richard Aintree was the most famous writer in America -- high school students across the country read his one and only novel, a modern classic on par with The Catcher in the Rye. But after his wife's death, Richard went into mourning... and then into hiding. No one has heard from him in twenty years. Until now. Richard Aintree - or someone pretending to be Richard Aintree - has at last reached out to his two estranged daughters. Monette is a lifestyle queen à la Martha Stewart whose empire is crumbling; and once upon a time, Reggie was the love of Hoagy's life. Both sisters have received mysterious typewritten letters from their father. Hoagy is already on the case, having been hired to ghostwrite a tell-all book about the troubled Aintree family. But no sooner does he set up shop in the pool house of Monette's Los Angeles mansion than murder strikes. With Lulu at his side - or more often cowering in his shadow - it's up to Hoagy to unravel the mystery, catch the killer, and pour himself that perfect single-malt Scotch... before it's too late.