Novel, we hear, about university detective and bespectacled bachelor – not bad! (5,4)

'bad' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'novel we hear about university detective and bespectacled bachelor not' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'novel' could be 'book' and 'book' is found within the answer.
'about' could be 'a' (abbreviation in Chambers) and 'a' is located in the answer.
'university' could be 'u' (abbreviation for university) and 'u' is located in the answer.
'detective' could be 'di' (Detective Inspector abbreviation) and 'di' is located in the answer.
'not' could be 'o' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'o' is found in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?