The Man Who Cancelled Himself - Hardcover

Great fun from Handler in his sixth Stewart Hoag adventure (The Boy Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald won an Edgar in 1991), despite its overwrought climax and a villain whom psychologically hip readers will spot before the actual unmasking. Former literary boy-wonder Hoagy has sunk to ghosting the showbiz autobio of children's TV star Lyle ("Uncle Chubby") Hudnut, who's attempting a comeback after an arrest for indecent exposure in a Times Square porn theater. Lyle, a 300-pound bundle of crazed energy, ego and cruelty, is sure that someone-or the world-is out to get him and believes the book will generate sympathy. There are personal complications: Lyle's co-star is his ex-wife; the network's executive producer is an ex-girlfriend; his current fiancee is the show's producer, a spot coveted by an assistant producer; and the show's writers are angling for control. A fire on the set, food poisoning and the bizarre murder of the newest cast member wreak havoc. A subplot involves Hoagy's celebrity ex-wife, who's pregnant and won't identify the father, but the best part of the book is Hoagy's gimlet-eyed observations of the fierce, delicious and dizzy infighting in Sitcom Land.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Uncle Chubby Show is the TV sitcom sensation of the '90s, boosting its formerly third-place network into the ratings lead and making fortunes for everyone involved with the program. But all is not well in Chubbyland: the series' star, the tyrannical and possibly psychotic Lyle Hudnut, has been arrested for public indecency in a Times Square porn theater. Hudnut hires ghostwriter-to-the-stars Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag to draft a damage-controlling memoir and to serve as "feelings adviser" to his writers. Hoagy's investigation leads to a bombing on the set, a nonlethal poisoning of the show's cast and crew, and murder. Meanwhile, Hoagy has problems of his own: his ex-wife, a prominent actress, is pregnant and won't reveal the name of the baby's father to a breathless nation (or to Hoagy). Handler, an experienced television writer, has produced a thoroughly satisfying mystery that offers a cynical look at the economics, politics, and sociology of a TV sitcom. He also creates some of the best character names in the business, including guru Noble Gesture and fading TV star Chad Roe. Highly recommended. George Needham