The Man Who Lived By Night [Mass Market Paperback]

David Handler (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 181 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (March 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553279351
• ISBN-13: 978-0553279351
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,105,957 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

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining 'whodunit' in the Stewart Hoag series, December 26, 1998

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[e-mail] (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Man Who Lived By Night (Mass Market Paperback)

This story, the second in the growing line of Stewart Hoag mysteries, finds our favorite ghost writer / mystery solver in England where he's been commissioned to pen the memoirs of aged rock star Tristam Scarr. As usual there are those who don't want Scarr's story to see the light of day. And as usual Stewart 'Hoagy' Hoag is faced with weeding through the many suspects. Hoag is accompanied to England by his perennial sidekick Lulu, a basset hound of remarkable eating habits. Also in England by coincidence is Hoag's ex-wife, award-winning actress Merilee Nash, to add to the fireworks. Though written early in the series, Hoag already shows signs of his humour, wit and insufferable coolness which following readers have come to love. As these stories follow a continuing line of characters and Hoag's life-events, readers are well rewarded for going back to fill in earlier history they may have missed on this full-time ghost writer and part-time detective.