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 tell whether this works.

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

Can you help me to learn more?