Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag is an author, except he really only had one great novel. Now his agent wants him to ghostwrite a story about another one-hit-wonder author, Richard Aintree. Richard and Hoagy were once close because Hoagy dated one of Richard's daughters, Reggie. Richard has gone into hiding since the mysterious death of his poet wife in the 70s.

Now, in the 90s, Reggie and her sister Monette are estranged from their father, but also from each other. Both are authors in their own right, but Monette wrote a memoir claiming her father sexually abused her when she was a child. Reggie never believed her sister, and wanted nothing to with her after that. Monette has become a media mogul and is contacted via letters by someone claiming to her father. Reggie is also receiving similarly written letters, and everyone is trying to figure out who these are actually coming from.

Hoagy heads to Brentwood to stay in Monette's guest house to start researching his book about her father, but he gets caught up in the investigation of the mysterious letters. The more he researches and discovers, the more danger Hoagy finds himself in—not just from possible murderers, but also from falling for Reggie again...

THE GIRL WITH KALEIDOSCOPE EYES David Handler is a great mystery thriller, with a little bit of romance. At first, I couldn't get into this book, but after a while, it picked up. The way that Handler describes Hoagy's low-key demeanor reminded me of Colombo. There were several backstories to keep track of in this book, which could be a little confusing, but they all come together in the end. If you like a book with quirky characters, you will really like this book. It is the ninth book in the Stewart Hoag series, but not confusing without reading the previous books. Give it a chance!