The Man Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald

December 4, 1995
In a wickedly amusing tale, Handler ( The Man Who Died Laughing ) pokes fun at wunderkind authors, unscrupulous agents, shady publishers and, of course, surly reviewers as he continues the adventures of his hero, ghostwriter Stewart ``Hoagy'' Hoag. Cameron Sheffield Noyes published his first novel, Bang , to great acclaim just before his 20th birthday, making him an instant celebrity--``a troubled young genius blessed with James Dean's looks and John McEnroe's personality.'' Unfortunately, he's also a celebrity with writer's block, says Noyes's agent, who hires Hoagy to help this hot property whip his life into a bestselling autobiography. Inteviewing him, Hoagy finds Noyes an appropriately melodramatic subject: a blue-blooded youth, orphaned young and thrust suddenly into the New York publishing scene. But clearly somebody doesn't like the story: Hoagy receives ominous warnings to quit the project. Just as his research reveals Noyes's touching memoirs as complete fabrication, both Noyes's publisher and ex-lover are murdered, and Noyes himself vanishes. New York's finest are on the case, but it's Hoagy with his sidekick, the delightful basset hound Lulu, who learns if Noyes's autobiography has a happy ending.