Five-Minute Mysteries: Cases from the Files of Ed Noon, Private Eye

Ed Noon

by Michael Avallone

Five-Minute Cases from the Files of Ed Noon

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Childrens, Short Stories

106 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Also wrote Nick Carter: Killmaster series under Nick Carter alias with others

Michael Angelo Avallone was a prolific American author of mystery and secret agent fiction, and novelizations based on TV and films. He claimed a lifetime output over 1,000 works, including novels, short stories, articles, published under his own name or 17+ pseudonyms.
His first novel, The Tall Dolores 1953 introduced Ed Noon PI. After three dozen more, the most recent was 1989. The final volume, "Since Noon Yesterday" is, as of 2005, unpublished.
Tie-ins included Man from U.N.C.L.E., Hawaii Five-0, Mannix, Friday the 13th Part III, Beneath the Planet of the Apes and even The Partridge Family. In late 1960s novellas featured U.N.C.L.E.-like INTREX. He is sometimes cited incorrectly as the creator of Man from U.N.C.L.E. (as in the January 1967 issue of The Saint Magazine), or having died March 1.
As Troy Conway, Rod Damon: The Coxeman novel series 1967-73, parodied Man from UNCLE. An unusual entry was the novelization of the 1982 TV mini-series, A Woman Called Golda, the life of Golda Meir.
Among the many pseudonyms that Michael Avallone used (male and female) were: Mile Avalione, Mike Avalone, Nick Carter, Troy Conway, Priscilla Dalton, Mark Dane, Jeanne-Anne dePre, Dora Highland, Stuart Jason, Steve Michaels, Dorothea Nile, Edwina Noone, John Patrick, Vance Stanton, Sidney Stuart, Max Walker, and Lee Davis Willoughby.
From 1962-5, Avallone edited the Mystery Writers of America newsletter. Personal Life:
He married 1949 Lucille Asero (one son; marriage dissolved), 1960 Fran Weinstein (one son, one daughter); died Los Angeles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_...
http://www.thrillingdetective.com/tri...

Reviews

[Conrad · Rating 2 out of 5]

5 Minute Mysteries, Michel Avallone, Mystery, I thought that the book was pretty good because it was a lot of unsuspected turn outs. I think that two parts of the story that where the most enjoyable for me where when at the beginning the first mystery and at the very end the last page of the book with all the little jokes because they were the most funny to me. I think that if you are someone who likes to read a lot of mystery books then this would be a good one for you.

[Athena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of its value lies in nostalgia. I had several of these books as a kid and they had already been out a while by the time I started reading.

The clues that are supposed to help you solve each mystery are wildly outdated and often such a stretch that there's no way of solving them yourself. Noon always explains his logic, but it's rarely sound. Considering this is a Scholastic book, the stories aren't really geared towards kids and involve everything from adultery to exotic dancers. Ah, the 70s.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and quick read for a rainy afternoon. Kind of like Encyclopedia Brown but aimed at older kids - I would almost say adults, but it's a Scholastic publication, so I'm not sure. Anyway, it's literally 13 mysteries featuring detective Ed Noon that take about 5 minutes to read. The solution is given at the end of each story.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book!! Good story!!

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re-read this book from my childhood. It holds up...ok...but the sexism and dated descriptions are notable. An easy, fast read, which helps me complete my reading challenge for this year.

[Chee Chee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories were written in a fun private eye style, but the riddles weren’t particularly satisfying.

[Rachel Bonitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent little book, quick to read and interesting enough. Dated, but then it was published almost 50 years ago so what can you expect?

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these are not as "black-and-white" as I would like. They are small stories, and each one is supposed to have an "aha" that the reader needs to pick up on, thereby giving all the clues necessary to solve the mystery.

However, as I've said, some of these are still a bit speculative. Sometimes the detective just acts on a hunch, and then the criminal is jarred and reveals the rest of the crime.

So... if the rules were different, and if we were instructed to "find the clue that leads to a hunch", then I'd not have reason to complain. But what if the hunch were wrong? Or failed to play out?

So, these are fun, and an interesting form of brain-teaser, but there are still loose ends that could have a bearing on the final case. These are not as cut-and-dried as you may think.

Anyways, recommended for readers from age 9 and up.

3.5 stars easily

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for teaching inference to students.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, quick read.