The Man in the White Linen Suit
Page 23
David Handler
Old Lyme, Connecticut
Read On
More from David Handler
THE MAN WHO COULDN’T MISS
* * *
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 Private Lives to rescue the famed but dilapidated Sherbourne Playhouse, where the likes of Katharine 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 one another—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.
“Hoagy is a thoroughly engaging amateur sleuth, as appealing to readers as he is enraging to the authorities, who can’t abide his unconventional methods. This tenth installment in the series is pure pleasure.”
—Booklist (starred review)
THE GIRL WITH KALEIDOSCOPE EYES
* * *
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 suicide, Richard went into mourning . . . and then into hiding. No one has seen him or heard from him in twenty years.
Until now. Richard Aintree—or someone pretending to be Richard Aintree—has at long last reached out to his two estranged daughters. Monette is a Martha Stewart–style lifestyle queen whose empire is crumbling; and once upon a time, Reggie, a gifted poet, 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.
“The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes is Handler at his best, drawing us close to his hero and the hero’s beloved pooch, Lulu, while introducing us to some of the scuzziest Hollywood characters this side of James Ellroy.”
—CTNews.com
Praise for David Handler and His Previous Novels
“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.”
—Harlan Coben
“Hoagy and Lulu tickle your funny bone and touch your heart.”
—Carolyn Hart
“David Handler is the master of the sly, comedic mystery.”
—Adriana Trigiani
“If not for David Handler, I wouldn’t be a writer. He’s one of my very favorites: a novelist whose champagne-fizzy mysteries—as winning as the madcap adventures of Carl Hiaasen, as hilarious as Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series—tickle the brain, heart, and funny bone in equal measure. (Same goes for his ghostwriter-sleuth hero, Stewart Hoag: think Sherlock Holmes meets Castle.) Love stylish, deftly plotted whodunits? Read David Handler. Love warm, witty, snort-out-loud comedy? Read David Handler. Love basset hounds? You know what to do.”
—A. J. Finn
“Kept me turning the pages. . . . The plot is influenced by a range of mystery masters, from Ross Macdonald to Agatha Christie. . . . The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes will help you remember the sun-crazed Hollywood excess of what now seems like an innocent time.”
—Seattle Times
“Kaleidoscope Eyes is Handler at his best, drawing us close to his hero and the hero’s beloved pooch, Lulu, while introducing us to some of the scuzziest Hollywood characters this side of James Ellroy.”
—CTNews.com on The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes
“Hoagy is a thoroughly engaging amateur sleuth, as appealing to readers as he is enraging to the authorities, who can’t abide his unconventional methods. This tenth installment in the series is pure pleasure.”
—Booklist (starred review) on The Man Who Couldn’t Miss
“As usual, Hoagy’s narration is the bright spot in a tangle of intrigue wilder than Noël Coward ever could have imagined.”
—Kirkus Reviews on The Man Who Couldn’t Miss
“Fans of light period mysteries full of famous names will be enchanted.”
—Publishers Weekly on The Man Who Couldn’t Miss
Also by David Handler
FEATURING STEWART HOAG
The Man Who Died Laughing
The Man Who Lived by Night
The Man Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Woman Who Fell from Grace
The Boy Who Never Grew Up
The Man Who Cancelled Himself
The Girl Who Ran Off with Daddy
The Man Who Loved Women to Death
The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes
The Man Who Couldn’t Miss
FEATURING BERGER AND MITRY
The Lavender Lane Lothario
The Coal Black Asphalt Tomb
The Snow White Christmas Cookie
The Blood Red Indian Summer
The Shimmering Blond Sister
The Sour Cherry Surprise
The Sweet Golden Parachute
The Burnt Orange Sunrise
The Bright Silver Star
The Hot Pink Farmhouse
The Cold Blue Blood
FEATURING BENJI GOLDEN
Phantom Angel • Runaway Man
FEATURING HUNT LIEBLING
Click to Play
FEATURING DANNY LEVINE
Kiddo • Boss
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE MAN IN THE WHITE LINEN SUIT. Copyright © 2019 by David Handler. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Cover photographs ©Michal Sanca/Shutterstock (man); ©Excess/Shutterstock (dog); ©bestdesigns/iStockphoto/Getty Images (buildings and water); ©VolodymyrSanych/Shutters
tock (background); ©ClickHere/Shutterstock (stars)
FIRST EDITION
Digital Edition AUGUST 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-286331-7
Version 06272019
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-286330-0
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