Ed Noon
Created by Michael Avallone

Welcome to the Nooniverse! ED NOON, film-obsessed New York P. I. and later investigator for the President, is one helluva creation. His series mirrors the post-WWII hardboiled period, then the sixties spy era. Goofy. He's the creation of Michael Avallone, the self-proclaimed "fastest typewriter in the East." Ed started out as a more or less typical New York gumshoe, but soon evolved into a sort of high-tech super spy/eye on special assignment to the President of the United States of America himself. The books are crammed with outlandish plots, bad puns, right-wing rants, soft-core porn and off the wall baseball and film trivia that make them truly unique. An acquired taste, one I'm not sure I've acquired.

Just to give you an idea how whacky this series could get, the final books, High Noon at Midnight (1988), Since Noon Yesterday (1989) and The Ninth of Never (unpublished) take place with Ed (now an old man) facing an alien invasion, which may be only a figment of his tired and shell-shocked imagination. Avallone's son, David, a film maker, who adapted the books into a web serial, describes the conclusion of the series as "A mystery science fiction adventure serial about fathers and sons, the past and the future, sanity and flying saucers. And cockroach headed guys from outer space with ray guns."

As well as writing the Noon novels and over ninety Noon short stories, Avallone has written hundreds of books, mostly paperbacks, everything from gothic romances to the very successful Man from U.N.C.L.E. series, under numerous pseudonyms as well as his own name. He also wrote for radio, most notably episodes for The Wind-Up, which featured Chester Morris as Ed Noon.

NOVELS

• The Tall Dolores (1953)
• The Spitting Image (1953)
• Dead Game (1954)
• Violence in Velvet (1956)
• The Bouncing Betty (1956)
• The Alarming Clock (1957)
• The Case of the Violent Virgin (1957)
• The Crazy Mixed-Up Corpse (1957)
• The Voodoo Murders (1957)
• Meanwhile Back at the Morgue (1960)
• The Living Bomb (1963)
• There is Something About a Dame (1963; The Nimble Gunner)
• The Bedroom Bolero (1963, also known as The Bolero Murders)
• Lust is No Lady (1965; AKA The Brutal Kook)
• The Fat Death (1966)
• The February Doll Murders (1967)
• Assassins Don't Die in Bed (1968)
• The Horrible Man (1968)
• The Flower-Covered Corpse (1968)
• Ed Noon, Private Eye (1969)
• The Doomsday Bag (1969; also known as Killer's Highway)
• Death Dives Deep (1970)
• Little Miss Murder (1971)
• The Fat Death (1971)
• The Ultimate Client (1971)
• The Bolero Murders (1972)
• The Flower-Covered Corpse (1972)
• The Horrible Man (1972)
• The Living Bomb (1972)
• Shoot It Again, Sam (1972; also known as The Moving Graveyard)
• London, Bloody London (1972)
• The Girl in the Cockpit (1972)
• The Alarming Clock (1973)
• Kill Her, You'll Like It (1973)
• Killer on the Keys (1973)
• The Hot Body (1973)
• The X-Rated Corpse (1973)
• The Walking Wounded (1973)
• And Then There Was Noon (1973)
• The Moon Maiden (1974)
• The Rubbed-Out Star (1974)
• Ed Noon in London (1974; AKA London, Bloody London)
• The Big Stiffs (1977; AKA Blues For Sophia Loren)
• Dark on Monday (1978)
• High Noon at Midnight (1988)
• Since Noon Yesterday (1989)
• The Ninth of Never (to be published)

SHORT STORIES

• "Open Season on Cops" (September 1962, MSMM)
• "The Arabella Nude" (July 1963, MSMM)
• "Violin Solo for a Corpse" (May 1974, MSMM)
• "Bartree Has Escaped Today!" (1978, Five-Minute Mysteries)
• "The Circus Catch" (1978, Five-Minute Mysteries)
• "The Cop Dodge Game" (1978, Five-Minute Mysteries)
• "The Coronet Club Caper" (1978, Five-Minute Mysteries)
• "The Dead Secretary" (1978, Five-Minute Mysteries)
• "The Fairfax Kill" (1978, Five-Minute Mysteries)
• "The Fatal Killing" (1978, Five-Minute Mysteries)
• "The French Jewel Heist" (1978, Five-Minute Mysteries)
• "The Great Zampa Hoax" (1978, Five-Minute Mysteries)
• "Inside-the-Park Homicide" (1978, Five-Minute Mysteries)
• "The Last Weekend" (1978, Five-Minute Mysteries)
• "The Real Gone Horn" (1978, Five-Minute Mysteries)
• "Who Killed Burlesque?" (1978, Five-Minute Mysteries)
• "Minute Mystery" (August 1980, MSMM)
• "Conversation While Prying" (July 1984, MSMM)
• "A Letter from Ed Noon" (#1, May 1988 Detective Story Magazine)
• "The Ten Percent Kill" (#10, December 1990, Hardboiled Detective)

COLLECTIONS

• Ed Noon's 5-Minute Mysteries (1978; AKA 5-Minute Mysteries)
• The Arabella Nude/Open Season On Cops (Gryphon Double Novel 4, 1993)

RADIO

• THE WINDUP
  (1950-s)
  13 episodes
  Written by Michael Avallone
  Starring Chester Morris as ED NOON
  According to his son, David, "From the flyer that I've seen, I always thought THE WINDUP was a one-shot thirteen episode Ed Noon radio series. I've never heard of the show outside of the context of Ed Noon. The ad had a publicity picture of Morris with the line "hear Chester Morris as Private Eye Ed Noon in THE WINDUP!" Avallone later adapted his scripts for his 1978 kid's book, Ed Noon's 5-Minute Mysteries.

FILM/WEB SERIAL

• SINCE NOON YESTERDAY
  (1999, AWOL/Bijou Café)
  Internet serial
  7 monthly 15-20 minute installments
  Webcast on Bijou Café, starting January 2000
  Based on the novel by Michael Avallone
  Written and directed by David Avallone
  Special effects by Rick Sander
  Music by Darryl Jensen
  An AWOL Production
  Starring David Avallone as EDDIE CARSTAIRS
  Also starring Tamara Taylor, Vernon Wells, Robbie Rist
  This is such a new idea I'm not even sure if to list it as film or video or television or web site or what. Anyway, this seven-part serial is running on the indie film webcaster, Bijou Café, and it's written and directed by Mike Avallone's son, David, based on the last Ed Noon book. The story begins when Ed Noon vanishes from a mental hospital in upstate New York, and Eddie Carstairs -- his estranged son -- sets out to find the aged detective. David's last picture was an ultra-low budget kick boxing movie called "Kick Of Death"... available at Amazon.com and the like. A five minute teaser is up now. The show will run concurrently with a web-comic adaptation of the previous Ed Noon novel High Noon At Midnight.

RELATED LINKS

• The Mouse Auditorium
  The Official Michael Avallone Web Page

A very special thanks to David Avallone for his help.