David Handler has a new book out in his Stewart Hoag series
and Kerry Hammond is here to tell us about it.
The Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes is the ninth book in the
Stewart Hoag mystery series. The previous eight were written in the 1980s and
1990s, but 20 years later the characters are back. The book picks up where the
author left off and the action takes place in 1992. In addition to his Stewart
Hoag series, Handler is the author of two other mystery series, a thriller, and
a couple of non-mystery books. I am always looking for new series to try and I decided to take a chance on such a prolific author.
In The Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes, Stewart Hoag, aka Hoagy, wrote a novel that shot up the
charts and propelled him to literary fame. Since then, however, his writing has
taken quite a nosedive. He is currently a ghostwriter, writing books for
celebrities who want their stories told. One day he is contacted by his agent,
whom he affectionately calls the Silver Fox, and is asked to ghostwrite a book
for Monette Aintree, the daughter of the famous novelist Richard Aintree.
Richard Aintree fell off the face of the
earth two decades earlier after writing the great American novel. Monette is a
celebrity in her own right after she published a tell-all book about her father’s sexual abuse, which she later
recanted in her second book.
Monette’s need for a ghostwriter is due to a letter she
received from her father telling her that he wants to make things right and
that she needs to contact Hoagy to proceed. Even though he’s mentioned by name,
Hoagy is torn about getting involved. Partly because he’s unsure if the letter
really is from Richard Aintree and partly because many moons ago he was madly
in love with Reggie, Monette’s sister and Richard’s other daughter. The sisters have not spoken since Monette’s
books and Hoagy hasn’t seen Reggie since the day he walked out on her, a breakup
which led to his penning his famous book.
Hoagy travels to L.A. to meet Monette and is living in her pool
house with his basset hound Lulu when the stakes are raised even higher, this
time to murder. Ghostwriting turns into crime-solving
and Hoagy and Lulu are caught up in yet another mystery that needs to be
solved.
I was drawn into the book from the very first page. I really
liked Hoagy and Lulu, and the author’s writing style hooked me. Having the book
set in 1992 added another layer of fun. There were flashbacks from popular
music to AT&T calling cards used at pay phones. More importantly, not
everyone had a cell phone and when they did appear they were few and far
between and the size of a toaster. Hoagy even types on an Olympia typewriter and
refuses to use modern word processors.
This was my first Stewart Hoag mystery but short of looking
up the author’s previous works, I never would have guessed that I had jumped
into a series at book nine. It read like a standalone mystery and I had no
problem getting right into it. I can’t quite put my finger on Handler’s writing
style. Hoagy is witty, real and matter of fact. He was once famous enough that
he can hobnob with celebrities, yet their lifestyles are clearly much different
than his own. The fact that he takes his dog everywhere he goes just adds to
his likeability. I was reminded of noir novels set in the 50s, complete with
trench coat and fedora, but replace the cigars and dames with an anchovy eating
basset hound and you’ve got this series.
This book was provided to Mystery Playground by the
publisher. The review was fair and completely independent.
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