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Stewart Hoag #4
The Woman Who Fell from Grace
A sequel to a fifty-year-old book puts Hoagy on the scent of a long-cold murder case
Few American novels are as beloved as Alma Glaze’s Revolutionary War epic, Oh, Shenandoah. Although Glaze died before she could write a sequel, she left behind an outline for one, along with instructions that it not be written until fifty years after her death. The deadline has passed, and the American public clamors for the long-promised Sweet Land of Liberty. Only one thing stands in its Glaze’s heirs. Her daughter, socialite Mavis Glaze, is writing the novel under guidance from her mother, who she claims has been appearing in her dreams. As Mavis’s writing spirals farther into madness, her brothers hire Stewart Hoag, a ghostwriter famous for dealing with troublesome celebrities. When he arrives at the family’s Virginia manor, he finds that Alma’s is not the only unsettled spirit. Blood was spilt for Oh, Shenandoah, and more will die before the sequel hits the bestseller list.
Few American novels are as beloved as Alma Glaze’s Revolutionary War epic, Oh, Shenandoah. Although Glaze died before she could write a sequel, she left behind an outline for one, along with instructions that it not be written until fifty years after her death. The deadline has passed, and the American public clamors for the long-promised Sweet Land of Liberty. Only one thing stands in its Glaze’s heirs. Her daughter, socialite Mavis Glaze, is writing the novel under guidance from her mother, who she claims has been appearing in her dreams. As Mavis’s writing spirals farther into madness, her brothers hire Stewart Hoag, a ghostwriter famous for dealing with troublesome celebrities. When he arrives at the family’s Virginia manor, he finds that Alma’s is not the only unsettled spirit. Blood was spilt for Oh, Shenandoah, and more will die before the sequel hits the bestseller list.
350 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 1991
123 people are currently reading
152 people want to read
About the author
David Handler
53 books263 followersAKA Russell Andrews (with Peter Gethers)
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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 12, 2019
The Woman Who Fell From Grace centers on the fiftieth anniversary of the publication and subsequent filming of an immensely popular Revolutionary War epic called Oh, Shenandoah (any resemblance to Gone With The Wind both intentional and amusing). The author's daughter and heir is fronting the sequel, which Hoagy has been hired to ghost. No interview tapes in this one, but Hoagy tracks down everyone he can who remembers the movie set to discover the truth about the death of its star. With a blend of fictional and real (Errol Flynn, who was rumored to have been considered for the part of Rhett Butler, opposite Bette Davis!) movie folk and the eccentric family of the long-dead (and possibly murdered?) author, Hoagy opens more than one can of worms. (Yes, typos from scanning, just make allowances.)
August 20, 2019
This series is a pleasant read, but certain things drive me crazy. The entire Hoagy versus Carmichael versus the Cheese steak is so overdone. Also, in every book he uses an author to remind himself what good writing is. I believe David Handler is a better author than to keep rehashing the same stuff. I certainly can’t read two books in a row because of this fact.
July 17, 2017
I thoroughly enjoy this series and the only bad thing I have to say about it, is that the books always end too soon for me. I stumbled onto the series the wrong way around by reading the last book first and liking it so much that I just had to start from the beginning. This is the 4th book in the series, its not crucial that you read them in order to enjoy them, but once I have worked my way through all the books I will be more than happy to re-read them in order this time around. I like the characters and the storyline, I am especially partial to Lulu and Hoady's dry sense of humor, it has plenty of action and mystery and a touch of romance. Deep down inside I alway am hopeful that Hoagy and Merilee will end up together again. This is such a fun read I am afraid I neglected my housework in order to find out who the killer was. Very entertaining.
January 12, 2022
Definitely one of my new favorite mystery series. Hoagie, like the sandwich not the singer, is a stalled wunderkind writer who ghost writes to make ends meet. Every time he, and his dog LuLu, accept a job, though, people seem to die and he is always beaten and threatened with death. This time he is tasked to write the long awaited sequel to a blockbuster romance novel. The deaths, old and new, pile up as he tries to solve an old crime that's begetting new ones. Great mystery, fun characters, lots of literary, musical, and movie references.
July 19, 2018
Interesting series. Tries to be humorous - "a hilarious spoof of bestsellers and the people who write them," per one blurb. Not my favorite genre, but good for summer days volunteering as a camp nurse, when most of my brain cells are occupied elsewhere. This sounds like damning with faint praise, which is unfair: it is intended to be light reading, I think, and I did enjoy it enough to finish it and hand it on to another mystery reader. Good plot, interesting/oddball characters.
June 11, 2021
Like the sandwich, not Carmichael
Just a warning - chapters from other books in the series take up the final 25% of the file. For me, it was a surprise.
Aside from that niggle, good mystery, and slightly different this time- instead of recorded conversations, this time the mystery is separate from the ghostwriting gig. And along the way, I’m learning what makes a good mystery - aside from an appealing main character. And Hoagie is appealing. 😊
Just a warning - chapters from other books in the series take up the final 25% of the file. For me, it was a surprise.
Aside from that niggle, good mystery, and slightly different this time- instead of recorded conversations, this time the mystery is separate from the ghostwriting gig. And along the way, I’m learning what makes a good mystery - aside from an appealing main character. And Hoagie is appealing. 😊
February 12, 2024
Try it, You'll Like It.
I did not know anything about the author. I chose the book based solely on the title. Immediately I became intrigued by the story and was anxious to read more. I will follow Mr. Handler and look forward to reading more.
I did not know anything about the author. I chose the book based solely on the title. Immediately I became intrigued by the story and was anxious to read more. I will follow Mr. Handler and look forward to reading more.
July 25, 2017
I am enjoying this series. It's light, fun, interesting enough to hold your attention.
July 31, 2017
Liked this one all the way through.
But I wish I knew more about the child hereafter, sort of a left hanging thread. Much better than the other one I read.
But I wish I knew more about the child hereafter, sort of a left hanging thread. Much better than the other one I read.
May 11, 2019
Handler is always a fun read.
June 20, 2019
Wonderful!
March 29, 2020
I read The Man in the White Linen Suit which was published some 20 or so years later than this book was. I liked this book a lot better.
September 23, 2023
Such smooth writing and the mystery really sucks you in. I thought I'd solved it but I was wrong.
May 24, 2025
Hated Lulu.
May 27, 2025
Much better mystery that the previous ones. Fun read.
January 2, 2015
Stewart “Hoagy” Hoag, celebrity ghostwriter, is offered the opportunity of a lifetime—to write the long-awaited sequel to “Oh, Shenandoah,” the best-selling novel of all time. Eight writers didn’t last one day dealing with Mavis Glaze, the author’s daughter and literary heir.
When Hoagy appears at the Glaze family plantation estate, which was the setting for the novel and the location of the movie, the housekeeper confides that she knows something about the death of the actor who played one of the male leads. But before she can spill what she knows to Hoagy, she is found dead at the bottom of the cellar stairs. The local police write her death off as an accident, but Hoagy is skeptical, especially when the second body turns up.
Handler has a wonderful gift for creating likeable characters and an understated sense of humor that makes a reader want to set down and read his books straight through to the end.
When Hoagy appears at the Glaze family plantation estate, which was the setting for the novel and the location of the movie, the housekeeper confides that she knows something about the death of the actor who played one of the male leads. But before she can spill what she knows to Hoagy, she is found dead at the bottom of the cellar stairs. The local police write her death off as an accident, but Hoagy is skeptical, especially when the second body turns up.
Handler has a wonderful gift for creating likeable characters and an understated sense of humor that makes a reader want to set down and read his books straight through to the end.
July 17, 2016
Dopo l'avventura de "
L'uomo che voleva essere Francis Scott Fitzgerald
" Mister Hoagy, al secolo Stewart Hoag viene chiamato a fare il ghost-writer dalla figlia dell'autrice del nuovo "Via col vento". Come al solito dovrebbe essere una normalissima faccenda da ghost-writer ma presto cominciano a spuntare i cadaveri.
E con i cadaveri la vicenda si trasforma in un'indagine investigativa e per Mister Hoagy e la sua inseparabile bassotta Lulu cominciano anche incontri nè voluti nè desiderabili. In più i cadaveri nuovi cominciano a rendere sospetti anche una serie di "Incidenti" e "morti naturali" di cinquant'anni prima.
La vicenda, come di norma con i romanzi firmati da David Handler procede con una tensione crescente resa irresistibile da una scrittura nella quale l'ironia è uno degli ingredienti essenziali.
E con i cadaveri la vicenda si trasforma in un'indagine investigativa e per Mister Hoagy e la sua inseparabile bassotta Lulu cominciano anche incontri nè voluti nè desiderabili. In più i cadaveri nuovi cominciano a rendere sospetti anche una serie di "Incidenti" e "morti naturali" di cinquant'anni prima.
La vicenda, come di norma con i romanzi firmati da David Handler procede con una tensione crescente resa irresistibile da una scrittura nella quale l'ironia è uno degli ingredienti essenziali.
Read
October 20, 2016I think I've discovered a new author! Perhaps a bit late getting on his band wagon, but David Handler is sharp, fast-talking, witty , clever, and ,- well-, brilliant!
I stumbled across this one, which ends up being # 4 in the Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag series, back from 1991. The first thing I noticed is the lack of computer references and no cell phones, which can be annoyingly convenient to most plots these days (That's what made me check out the date written).
Hoagy (as in the cheese steak) is a celebrity ghostwriter by vocation and mystery solver by luck.
He's doing a sequel to a bestselling novel done 50 years prior (which presents like a Revolutionary era version of Gone With the Wind).
It's a fun romp... lots of bodies but the author manages nicely with no scary stuff if you have such aversions.
I'm heading to the library to grab numbers 1-2- & 3 !!
I stumbled across this one, which ends up being # 4 in the Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag series, back from 1991. The first thing I noticed is the lack of computer references and no cell phones, which can be annoyingly convenient to most plots these days (That's what made me check out the date written).
Hoagy (as in the cheese steak) is a celebrity ghostwriter by vocation and mystery solver by luck.
He's doing a sequel to a bestselling novel done 50 years prior (which presents like a Revolutionary era version of Gone With the Wind).
It's a fun romp... lots of bodies but the author manages nicely with no scary stuff if you have such aversions.
I'm heading to the library to grab numbers 1-2- & 3 !!
July 27, 2014
Another entertaining entry in this series. I enjoy the main character and his loyal basset hound and the plot was pretty well done. Listened to the audio which was narrated by Sean Runnette who was just as good as Tom Stechschulte who had narrated the previous three books.
June 29, 2016
Hoagie and Zulu
Just started reading David handler. And I,m hooked on hoagie and Zulu., the mysteries are well written and usually keep me guessing. But it,s the characters who keep me turning the pages and the quiet humor. t
Just started reading David handler. And I,m hooked on hoagie and Zulu., the mysteries are well written and usually keep me guessing. But it,s the characters who keep me turning the pages and the quiet humor. t
November 17, 2016
I'm really starting to like this series.....
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews