The Horrible Man — Michael Avallone

“Tony Spanner had known how to live even if he hadn't known how to die." Ed Noon, Private Eye

Alive, playboy Tommy Spanner was known as God's gift to women. Dead, he was suddenly a prize worth killing over. Ed Noon has mysterious orders from the very top to keep the corpse out of the wrong hands, and as he tangles with a swarm of lustful ladies and murderous men, he finds out just how fast things can go from bed to worse. Ed Noon comes out on top in the case of a kinky stud who found that sex objects can be deadly.

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. And, more often than not, wins.