For the first time in book form—six stories from vintage men’s magazines (1952–1961) featuring Milo March, the shrewd insurance investigator and brazen secret agent created by M.E. Chaber: “The Jelly Roll Heist.” A series of thefts in Denver has the insurance executives biting their nails. Judging by the loss of a belly dancer’s navel gem, it looks like a seducer is preying on ladies with sparkly things. Or is there a more sinister gang behind it? “Hair the Color of Blood.” Milo’s on vacation at a swank Santa Monica hotel when he hears a scream. He rushes to save the damsel in distress, and the next thing he knows, he’s waking up in bed with the naked body of a red-haired corpse! “The Hot Ice Blues.” A new jewel robbery occurs every night, while Milo sits around playing Dixieland platters with a real gone chick. Is the insurance company’s star investigator really goofing off? “Murder for Madame.” Someone swipes a worthless box, tossing aside the costly pearl necklace that was inside. Now four people are desperate to retrieve the box―five if you count Milo, who can’t resist trying to figure out why. “The Red, Red Flowers.” Major March, U.S. Army Reserve, is sent undercover to Moscow, where a captured American U-2 pilot is on trial. As usual, Milo has no plan but makes it up as he goes along. He will have mere moments to retrieve a coded message and snatch the pilot from the Communists’ hands—but things don’t go exactly as expected. “The Twisted Trap.” Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. A wealthy old policyholder claims that his sexy young wife and her psychiatrist lover have teamed up to poison him with a drug that mimics the symptoms of madness. If he should die “accidentally” as a result of this condition, his wife will get an enormous life insurance payout. Having escaped from a sanatorium, the old man insists that Milo must rescue him. But doing so may cost Milo his own sanity!

Milo March, a tough private eye from Denver, is sent to Aragon City (which could be Hollywood) to help the City Betterment Committee wipe out the gangsters and hoodlums controlling brothels, bookies, gamblers, shady nightclubs, and the dope traffic. He just has to uncover “Mr. X,” the mystery man who’s been raking in a tidy little income by providing protection to the Syndicate. But can Milo accomplish that without stumbling over something even more dangerous—like who pays Mr. X, and why? Milo is well equipped for the job. He has plenty of gall, good looks, an unlimited expense account, a fishtail Cadillac, and ample experience with lawbreakers—and beautiful, willing women, of whom there are several, but only one who is the girl next door. As March starts his snooping, he is surprised to discover a sexy, naked blonde in his hotel room. And there are other, more painful things complicating his life—things like beatings and fistfights and gun battles, and a blow he never saw coming. “Sentence by sentence, this is a strongly readable book.” —New York Herald Tribune Book Review “The established pattern of California coast crime—political graft, dope, and prostitution—with a fall guy introduced to clean it up. Milo March, hired by the Civic Betterment Committee, fouls up with the brains and muscle men when he spies on his assignment before he is due, latches onto cultured hoods and tough racket boys—and pays off from syndicate roughing up to cards down.” —Kirkus Reviews “It was obvious that sooner or later there’d be a capable challenger of Mickey Spillane in the concoction of the muscular and seductive mixture that makes Spillane’s best-selling books. A challenger has appeared in M.E. Chaber.” ―Los Angeles Examiner

Milo March, Madison Avenue insurance detective, is sent to Rome to investigate the double-indemnity claim on the policy of a young woman who may have been murdered. Anna Maria went walking on a beach, allegedly to bathe in the healing seawater. A few hours later she was found lying nude on the sand, with no apparent signs of violence to the body. An accidental drowning, says the medical report, and the family puts in a claim for the large benefit. The insurance company, understandably, would like to confirm that the death was indeed an accident.Although the case is quickly closed by the police, the whispers of Rome will not be silenced. They insist that the girl was murdered, that she'd been consorting with VIPs at a wild drug party, that she was pregnant and the guilty man did not want any trouble. It is rumored that politicians made the police hush up the truth, lest a scandal topple the Christian-Democrat government, allowing the Communists to take over.Milo is warned to leave the case alone. If he persists, he may find himself arrested, he may get orders from his own American Embassy, or he may even be killed by someone... or some thing. All of this may happen if he says out loud that a girl of no importance died because someone wanted her dead. But the question-and the shocking surprise-is who actually killed her?A Lonely Walk was inspired by the true story of Wilma Montesi, whose death in 1953 led to a scandal that rocked Italy with revelations of corruption in high places. The real-life case remains unsolved death to this day. Not so Milo's investigation of the girl who took a lonely walk-until Death came to keep her company.