Man Who Died Laughing, The [Mass Market Paperback]

David Handler (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

One-time Hollywood great Sonny Day enlists the aid of skidding writer Stewart Hoag in composing his autobiography. Several people with secrets to hide want publication stopped, however, and eventually one of them becomes aggravated enough to murder Sonny. Handler employs his own television background to good effect, dishing up a slick and serviceableif transparentplot, frank language, currently voguish "secret," and recognizable Hollywood names. REK
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Crimeline (August 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553185209
• ISBN-13: 978-0553185201
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,105,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

These days, I live in a 200-year-old carriage house in a quaint, ultra-WASPY little historic New England village. Not surprisingly, I've taken to writing a series of five (and counting) retro-cozy murder mysteries set in a quaint, ultra-WASPY little historic New England village. I call it Dorset. It's a place where everyone knows everything about everyone ' or at least they think they do. Trust me, they don't. Dorset is a place full of secrets, many of them deadly. That's where my deliciously mismatched heroes come in, both of them strangers in a very strange land. Mitch Berger, a pudgy Jewish widower, is the lead film critic for the most prestigious and therefore lowest paying of New York's three daily newspapers. Desiree Mitry is an alluring beautiful Connecticut State Trooper who happens to be black, a gifted artist and strangely drawn to Mitch. Under normal circumstances, these are two people whose paths would never cross. But absolutely nothing about Dorset is normal.

I started the series in 2001 with The Cold Blue Blood , which was nominated for a Dilys Award. My most recent hardcover, The Sweet Golden Parachute came out in the spring of 2006. The latest paperback is The Burnt Orange Sunrise , which I'm happy to report made a few bestseller lists. You absolutely don't have to read the Berger-Mitry books in order, but you'll find it a kick to follow the unfolding romance if you do. Personally, I've found them to be a real treat. I get a chance to dissect the village and the people where I actually live. Absolutely everyone in town reads them. And I have fun bringing my own subversive contemporary edge to the classic old-school village murder mystery. The books feel real fresh to me. I hope you like them.

The Berger-Mitrys are my second crime series. My first foray, which you may remember, featured the dapper celebrity ghostwriter Stewart 'Hoagy' Hoag and his faithful, neurotic basset hound Lulu. I wrote eight novels about Hoagy, a fallen literary wunderkind turned pen for hire who travels the underbelly of show business helping famous stars tell their life stories, secrets and all. Generally, there are plenty of people who wanted those secrets to stay safely buried. Generally, our jaded hero knows how to dig them out. My first Hoagy, The Man Who Died Laughing , was nominated for an Anthony Award. My best known in the series, The Man Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald , won an Edgar and an American Mystery Award. Sadly, several of the Hoagys are out of print right now -- so you may have to do a little on-line detective work to track them down. But go for it. You'll never find another wise-cracking hero quite like Hoagy.

Do you like political thrillers? If so, I took some time off between series a few years back to co-author an international bestselling page-turner called Gideon under the name Russell Andrews. I promise you it'll knock your socks off.

I've also taken the time to write some short fiction. Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine has published several of my short stories since 2001. Two have been included in anthologies ' Opening Shots Volume Two , edited by Lawrence Block, and A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime , edited by Jeffrey Deaver.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yippie Yi Yi Yo, August 29, 2004

By 

TundraVision (o/~ from the Land of Sky Blue Waters o/~) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Man Who Died Laughing, The (Mass Market Paperback)

In the early 80s, Stewart Hoag ("Hoagy") was proclaimed to be "the first new literary voice of the 80s" by the New York Times. Now it's the late 80s, and Hoagy is reduced to ghost writing a biography for Sonny Day, nicknamed "The One," formerly of the Martin-Lewis-esque team Knight & Day. Get it?
OK, everybody sing:
o/~ Knight and Day, You are The One ... o/~
Like Martin & Lewis, Knight & Day had The Big BreakUp. The Why of it is at the center of the mystery. Hoagy's sidekick is his Basset Hound, Lulu. This reviewer's Basset, LucyIndaSky, wishes Lulu would have had a bigger role. This reviewer wishes this book would have moved along better. (o/~ "Get along. Little Doggies!" o/~)
No one dies until page 123 out of 184. This would not work for dear Jessica Fletcher, who manages to have a dead body by the 1st commercial in every Murder, She Wrote, and it doesn't work well here either.
The book meanders from Coast to Coast - New York to LA and back and forth. It is an exercise in Celebrity Name Dropping, including the real Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Dino even comes to the funeral, when Handler finally gets around to giving us a funeral to go to.
Reviewed by TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer