THE MAN WHO SWORE HE'D NEVER GO HOME AGAIN

In this case from early in Stewart Hoag's career, the newly successful writer revisits his hometown to investigate the murder of a beloved librarian.

Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag always swore that he would never return to Oakmont, Connecticut, the small mill town where his family lived for generations. He certainly has no desire to interrupt his high life as the newest great American novelist to revisit the town that hates his family and will only bring back memories of his unhappy childhood. But when his childhood sweetheart phones to say that her mother, Mary McKenna, the librarian who inspired Hoagy's dream to be a writer, has died, Hoagy knows he has to return for her funeral. Especially when Maggie adds that her mother didn't die of natural causes. Who would want to murder a beloved mill town librarian? Determined to pay his respects to one of the few people in his hometown he truly cared for, Hoagy hops in his Jaguar and heads to Oakmont with his new girlfriend Merilee and even newer basset hound puppy Lulu in tow. The town where his family's brass mill once thrived is now a toxic, lead-poisoned ghost town filled with illegal drugs, broken families, violence, bitterness, and resentment. Hoagy is surprised to discover former classmate and bullying target, Pete Schlosski, has become the State Police Resident Trooper. But while Pete seems to have forgiven his past tormentors, he doesn't have any ideas as to which of them might be a killer. Hoagy, on the other hand, has learned plenty about the art of investigation from hours spent in the library, and his four-month-old puppy shows a surprising knack for tracking down clues. Readers will be delighted to return to where it all began and experience Lulu's very first case in this charming installment of the Edgar Award-nominated Stewart Hoag series. David Handler, who began his career in New York as a journalist, was born and raised in Los Angeles and published two highly acclaimed novels about growing up there, Kiddo and Boss, before resorting to a life of crime fiction. He has written nine novels about the witty and dapper celebrity ghostwriter Stewart Hoag and his faithful, neurotic basset hound, Lulu, including the Edgar and American Mystery Awardwinning The Man Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes. He has also written eleven novels featuring the mismatched crime-fighting duo of New York film critic Mitch Berger and Connecticut State trooper Desiree Mitry.David's short stories have earned him a Derringer Award nomination and other honors. He was a member of the original writing staff that created the Emmy Awardwinning sitcom Kate & Allie and has continued to write extensively for television and films on both coasts. He also co-authored the international bestselling thriller Gideon under the pseudonym Russell Andrews. He lives in a 200-year-old carriage house in Old Lyme, Connecticut.