Shoot It Again, Sam — Michael Avallone

“It was all so simple, really. My assignment. I had come to kill the President of the United States." Ed Noon, Private Eye

For an old movie buff like Ed Noon, escorting the corpse of his favorite movie star to the west coast for burial was a sentimental journey. But then the coffin lid opened, the corpse sat up, the lights went out and Noon was on a terror trip past the wildest nightmares of the Hollywood dream merchants. Ed Noon is kidnapped, brainwashed and sent to assassinate the President of the United States, in one of his most mind-bending and intense adventures.

The Adventures of Ed Noon, Private Eye, spanning over 30 novels written between 1953 and 1990. Noon starts out dirt poor with a tiny office in Midtown Manhattan (his “Mouse Auditorium”) but success moves him to better digs, a lovely secretary (Melissa Mercer) and, eventually, the most important client of all: the President of the United States. The series concludes with a daring turn towards science fiction in the last two novels. Through it all, the wisecracking Noon is consistent: a movie and baseball-obsessed romantic who always fights the good fight.