The Boy Who Never Grew Up — David Handler

THIS PEN FOR HIRE

Once Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag was the toast of the publishing world and husband of luscious Broadway beauty Merilee Nash. But fame and fortune left him as swiftly and surely as Merilee. Now Hoagy ekes out a living as a ghostwriter of celebrity memoirs and a reluctant amateur detective, aided by his cat-food-eating basset hound named Lulu.

IF LIFE WERE LIKE THE MOVIES, STEWART HOAG WOULD BE OUT OF WORK....

But for better or worse there are enough unhappy endings in Hollywood to keep Hoagy gainfully employed -- with work left over for hatchet-wielding hacks like Cassandra Dee. Hoagy and Cassandra are working both ends of the celebrity divorce of the decade, the breakup that makes Donald and Ivana look like puppy love. In one corner, Hollywood gee-whiz kid Matthew Wax, the director whose celluloid schmaltz has made him a multimillionaire; in the other, his beautiful leading lady Pennyroyal Brim. Hoagy's got a herculean task ahead of him in trying to dig up the truth about the House of Wax--Matthew is surrounded by the false fronts of his fictional all-American vision. But this time reality can't be held at bay with a nicely scripted happy ending, and soon Matthew Wax's life is looking less like It's a Wonderful Life -- and more like Nightmare on Elm Street.