Novel villain in association with drink (5)
I believe the answer is:
fagin
'novel villain' is the definition.
'fagin' can be an answer for 'villain' (I have seen 'Dickensian villain' mean 'fagin' so perhaps 'villain' could also mean 'fagin'). I am not sure about the 'novel' bit.
'association with drink' is the wordplay.
'association with' becomes 'fa' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'drink' becomes 'gin' (gin is an alcoholic drink).
'fa'+'gin'='FAGIN'
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for fagin that I've seen before include "Dickensian villain" , "Dickens' thief/receiver" , "Thief" , "Character in Oliver Twist" , "Oliver Twist villain" .)