Violence in Velvet — Michael Avallone

ED NOON MYSTERY #4

"Pistol shots have a funny effect on me. I move when I hear them. Even if it isn't always in the right direction." --Ed Noon, Private Eye

A Broadway star's wife is murdered, and her little daughter, the Small Lucille, hires Noon to track down the killer, who just might be her own father. An intimate look at Times Square and Broadway and the backstage environs, in which Noon falls in love with the actor's lovely agent, Helen Tucker. The roof of the largest Broadway theatre is the setting for an incredibly surprising yet poignant romantic finish.

Ed Noon Series:

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, with 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.