Embarrassed by detective in Hesse novel getting high (8)
I believe the answer is:
sheepish
'embarrassed' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'detective in hesse novel getting high' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'detective' could be 'pi' (private eye) and 'pi' is found within the answer.
an anagram of 'hesse' is 'shees' which is located in the remaining letters.
A single letter 'h' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'by' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sheepish that I've seen before include "Embarrassed through shame; ovine" , "Shy, shamefaced" , "embarrassment" , "Embarrassed -- like ewe!" , "Shamefaced, embarrassed" .)