Which is not to say it was easy to summon up the voice of a character I hadn’t written for two decades, especially when that character’s views and observations are so crucial to the telling of the story. I would never have found Hoagy’s voice again without the tireless support and patient feedback of my longtime companion, Diana Drake, whose belief in this project—and me—never faltered. I am also indebted to Elaine Pagliaro, Peter Dixon, Brittany Finkeldey, Liza Dousson and Emrys Tetu for their expertise, advice, encouragement and support these past many months.
Two different independent publishers, Byron Preiss and David Thompson, labored tirelessly over the years to keep paperbacks of the eight Hoagy novels in print, particularly my Edgar winner, The Man Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald. Both men have passed, but I have not forgotten their faith in me. And I’m hugely grateful to Otto Penzler, who in 2012 made the entire Hoagy series available as e-books on his MysteriousPress.com so that a whole new generation of readers has been able to discover it.
I can’t mention Hoagy without a tip of my fedora to my first literary agent, the late, great Roberta Pryor—the real life Silver Fox—who sent the manuscript of my very first Hoagy novel, The Man Who Died Laughing, to a mystery editor at Bantam named Kate Miciak. Kate loved the writing but rejected it because the plot was woefully thin. The woefully thin part didn’t surprise me. I had never written a mystery before. Roberta convinced Kate to sit down with me and explain how to make it, well, less woefully thin. I rewrote the novel from scratch, Roberta resubmitted it, Kate bought it and it went on to be nominated for an Anthony Award. I wrote all of the Hoagy novels before this one for Kate. There would be no Hoagy and Lulu if it weren’t for her.
Lastly, I would like to thank the countless readers who’ve written me over the years to beg me to bring Hoagy back. Consider it done. He’s back.
David Handler
Old Lyme, Connecticut
About the Author
DAVID HANDLER has written nine novels about dapper celebrity ghostwriter Stewart Hoag, including the Edgar and American Mystery Award–winning, The Man Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as eleven novels in the bestselling Berger & Mitry series. He lives in a 230-year-old carriage house in Old Lyme, Connecticut.
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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
Featuring Berger & 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
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.
the girl with kaleidoscope eyes. Copyright © 2017 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 Publishers.
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Digital Edition AUGUST 2017 ISBN: 978-0-06-241286-7
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-241284-3
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