The era of the Literary Lion is probably over. There are a lot of very good and long-overdue cultural reasons for this, but there's also an element of nostalgia — or at least prurient wistfulness — to think there will be no more larger-than-life characters such as Hemingway and Fitzgerald, Mailer and Heller, McInerney and Ellis, and even Clancy and DeMille to storm-troop through high society and swank saloons like the rock stars whose behavior they probably inspired.

In the wild 1990s, though, no one cut quite the intimidating, fascinating and legendary path as Addison James — the biggest-selling novelist on the planet. It's worth noting at this point that James is a fictional character.

But, as skillfully conjured by Old Lyme's David Handler in "The Man in the White Linen Suit," his latest in the Edgar Award-winning Stewart Hoag mystery series, James is a distinctive fusion of Handler's imagination and an earlier, indelible era in publishing.

In "The Man in the White Linen Suit," Hoag — at one time himself the most promising literary wunderkind in Manhattan — is slowly rebuilding his career after years of excess and making ends meet by ghosting celebrity memoirs. But things are turning around. He's well into writing the long-forestalled encore to his celebrated debut novel; he and his former wife, highly regarded actress Merrilee Nash, can see a possible future together after all; and Hoagy's beloved sidekick, the preternaturally-attuned basset hound Lulu, is sharper than ever and remains welcome in the finest restaurants and bars in New York City.

Hoagy's agent has an offer from the most ruthless editor in publishing, Sylvia James. She'll offer an advance on his new novel IF Hoagy can track down a missing manuscript belonging to her father — Addison James. It seems the hugely successful author of location-based historical fiction is increasingly senile and in fact hasn't even written his last two bestsellers. Instead, they were penned by his assistant, Tommy O'Brien, an old friend of Hoagy's, who has vanished with the only copy of the most recent and highly anticipated James manuscript.

"The Man in the White Linen Suit" is full of laugh-out-loud, dialogue, instantly addictive characters, beguiling context about the world of publishing at its glamorous height, and a helluva great plot. It hits bookstores Tuesday, and Handler appears at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday on Day television affiliate WTNH's "CT Style" program. By email earlier this week, he answered questions about the book and his career.

Q: Hoagy and Lulu inhabit the very different world of the 1990s, which for some means it's a very distant and nostalgic concept. At the same time, there is a very contemporary feel and wit to the the novels. Do you feel that bipartite energy when you write about Hoagy? Is there a conscious effort to capture the recent past and yet still attract younger readers, as it were?

A: It has been a terrific amount of fun returning to writing the Hoagy series as "period" novels. The weirdest part is that I don't think of them as "period" novels, even though half of the country wasn't even born in 1993, which is when "The Man in the White Linen Suit" is set.  I'm simply sitting down and writing from memory. I remember exactly what I was doing in 1993. I remember who I was reading, what music I was listening to. I remember it all. It truly doesn't seem that long ago to me. Heck, I still own a lot of the same clothes. 

After I've written my first draft, which I usually dash off pretty quickly, I'll search Google and brush up on the details of what was happening politically and so forth at the time — as well as what the top selling recordings and hit movies were for the week I'm writing about. I also have to make certain that Hoagy doesn't use any kind of slang or contemporary expressions that didn't exist then. But I have no doubt that a contemporary feel creeps into the writing anyway. How could it not?

Q: Addison James is at once an alluring and pretty loathsome character and also happens to be the biggest selling author in the world. Was there any particular real-life author dancing through your head when you came up with Addison?

A: I totally invented Addison's World War II experiences and his larger-than-life, somewhat horrifying personality. I patterned his career after writers like James Michener and Herman Wouk. Especially Michener, who was a bestselling Book-of-the-Month Club novelist for something like 40 years, cranking out those 800-page historical doorstops of his like clockwork, each novel set in a different state or country. I could never get into his books. I thought they were officially sanctioned boredom. But he was immensely popular. 

My parents, who belonged to the Book-of-the-Month Club, loved him — although, I swear, my mom had "The Source," which was an exhaustive history of the Holy Land, sitting on her nightstand the entire three years I was in high school. I don't know if she was reading two pages a night or if it had simply become part of the décor. I can still see it sitting there.

Q: Merilee Nash is offstage for most of "White Linen." Is this maybe part of a long-view/chess game maneuver as her relationship with Hoagy is starting to reignite? And in that spirit, how far in advance do you have adventures planned for Lulu and Hoagy?

A: I hate to disillusion you but I don't plan anything in advance. I strictly wing it as I'm going along. As an example, Merilee makes a strikingly memorable appearance at the beginning of the book that I must admit came as a total surprise to me. I wasn't expecting it. But I thought it was totally natural and inevitable so it stayed in the book. And it sure made Hoagy happy.

Q: One of the best things about the series is the sort of quasi-snarky/insider's look at the publishing business, as it was at the time. It seems like a very different industry now. Is that fair to say?

A: Publishing isn't nearly the same business that it was in the 1980s when I sought it out as a refuge from the high stakes backstabbing of the movie and TV business. It wasn't showbiz. It was a sanctuary for people who loved books — writing them, editing them, sharing them with fellow book lovers. But there were many small, independently owned houses in those days. No longer. They've either folded or been gobbled up by giant media conglomerates. Publishing is merely another facet of showbiz now. Totally bottom-line oriented. Editors aren't nearly as interested in finding good books or nurturing young writers as they once were. They're zeroed in on finding a hot property that will serve as their stepping stone to a higher-paying job at Netflix.

Q: Every page of a Hoagy novel has truly urbane and witty dialogue and observations. Do you get into character and Hoagy sorta writes himself or do you have to type INSERT JOKE HERE and think about this stuff?

A: Hoagy does write himself. I'm merely a conduit. His observations and wit just flow through me. That's why it's always been such a pleasure to write him. Mind you, I do polish and refine quite a bit. I also trim every unnecessary word. Probably one-third of every manuscript ends up being cut out.

Q: At the end of the book, all the principal characters are gathered for the big reveal. That's a popular technique but you don't always rely on it. Do you know in advance that "all roads lead" to one of those scenes or does the plot unspool as you write?

A: I don't know anything in advance beyond who the killer is and why the killing took place. I have no idea how the plot is going to unfold or how Hoagy is going to solve the crime. Plus I usually end up with another murder or two along the way that I wasn't expecting. Often, I use the traditional technique of gathering the principals in a room together for the big reveal. Sometimes it resolves itself differently. I just go by instinct or whatever feels right.

Q: You also write the Berger and Mitry novels and the Benji Gold series. Any hints as to what's coming next?

A: I have no idea what my next project is going to be. Might be another Hoagy. Then again, might not be. I'm patiently waiting for my next project to step up and demand to be written.