Bøker utgitt av Steeger Books

John Solomon, the mysterious ship's chandler and secret agent, returns in two more rare adventures from early in prolific pulp author H. Bedford-Jones' career: "Solomon's Carpet" and "Solomon's Submarine." Continue the story of John Solomon with this next book in the series, complete & uncut from the pages of People's Magazine. Includes the original illustrations.

A brawny coolie from the filthy waterfront of Hong Kong was Emperor of Asia and master of the vast reaches of Russia. Armed with mysterious new weapons which made the bravest man craven, he marched ruthlessly to conquer the world, and to win the proud daughter of the Muscovite nobility who scorned his amorous advances... Jimmy Christopher-Operator 5 of the United States Intelligence-had given America more than enough warning to prepare for the barbaric, invading yellow hosts. And when all seemed lost-when great cities were razed and countless thousands butchered-Operator 5 finally ignored restraining bureaucracy and pitted himself in a single-handed battle to wrest our nation from the Coolie Emperor's bloody grasp!

Those strange, impassioned orators preached peace and the brotherhood of man-as they tongue-lashed their eager, duped recruits to brutal deeds, bloody violence, and suicide... While dull-witted authorities ridiculed Jimmy Christopher-Operator 5 of the Secret Service-the Dragon Emperor ruthlessly conquered New England... When America seemed altogether doomed-when his loved ones had sacrificed themselves in vain-Operator 5 undertook one last, lone-handed counterattack-from which he could not hope to return alive!

The most deadly weapon in history-a green mist which turned all it touched to flaming ruin-was ravaging America! Far off in Etoria, war-dog kingdom of the Mediterranean, a power-mad demagogue plotted the conquest of the world, and subjugating our land was his first wily move...! While the United States Government prepares to surrender humbly-while war scars a thousand-mile front in Europe-Operator 5, Ace of the American Intelligence, alone, disgraced, challenges the might of the new Napoleon and single-handedly carries the battle into the powerful warlord's own fortified palace!

Gold-the mineral which fosters war!-threatened to plunge America into a chaos of revolt, misery and death. In Washington, the fortified vaults of the nation's Treasury lay empty-stripped of wealth. A madman, obscured in mystery, his face concealed by a mask of the precious metal, had allied himself with powerful foreign magnates to deliver the United States into misery and bondage. Robbed of her riches, her plans for military security disrupted, her strategic stores destroyed and her armament factories wrecked, the most powerful nation in the world seemed inevitably doomed. One man, Jimmy Christopher, ace of the Intelligence, had a feasible plan for wresting victory from the cunning clutches of the greedy syndicate... And that man, known to a few as Operator 5, under grave suspicion of treachery, spied upon and hampered by a stubborn superior, must sacrifice his father, his beloved, and his honor to save his native land from a cruel invader's debauchery and butchery...!

Like the tentacles of a gigantic and loathsome octopus the ends of that infamous international espionage ring had stretched out across the United States. Lusting for power, the fiendish leader of that ring was stripping the country of its entire armaments; butchering, in the very capital of the nation, the patriots who pleaded for adequate war-strength. Operator 5, America's Secret Service Ace, tried to oppose that ruthless Death Master-but Jimmy Christopher fought a power that scattered his own helpers, crippled the Intelligence, and threatened invasions that would have spelled utter annihilation!

It struck out of the night, a monster whose blood-red shadow brought death to everyone it touched. What was this weird Thing? Beneath its reign of terror, police were powerless. But grimly, out of the list of victims, rose six men-six men who vowed to track the scarlet killer down a suicide road to a murder showdown!

By plague and fire, bribery and chicanery, terrorism and extortion, the insane dictator Ursus Young has established himself as the supreme ruler of America. Who is left with sufficient strength to thwart him? Already he has scattered far and wide the organization of which Operator 5, America's Secret Service Ace, forms so important a part. Against such tremendous dictatorial power Jimmy Christopher finds himself battling with a desperation such as he has never felt before...

The news spread like wildfire. A man had solved the problem of the ages-he was bringing the dead back to life! Operator 5, ace of the American Secret Service, recognized the grave menace. He realized the danger if the gigantic advances of modern science were employed selfishly by unscrupulous men. And that precisely was the danger facing his native land! The Master of Death, using the promise of life everlasting, was cunningly building an army of fanatic, half-mad followers, men who were burning, pillaging and slaying at the will of the man-monster they worshipped!

Oil-black gold-the blood of Mother Earth! America had squandered its precious reserves and a syndicate of skilled saboteurs was destroying the remaining store! With all National defense rendered helpless for want of it, bitter despair gripped the hearts of the country's millions. Pillage, slaughter, and slavery-misery and death-threatened each American! And Jimmy Christopher, Operator 5 of the United States Intelligence, was gambling his life recklessly in a valiant effort to save his native land from extinction!

A happy crowd, inspired by the spirit of Christmas, was milling joyously in Times Square, New York. Suddenly, cutting through the sounds of gayety, came a shrill whine. It became louder, and at the very second of midnight, a gigantic shell exploded, killing, maiming, destroying! At twelve hour intervals thereafter-no man knew in advance where-another shell burst devastatingly. Two great powers were openly accused in the newspapers. War-savage and bloody-was imminent, and Operator 5 realized that he had encountered his most cunning foe, the clever woman spy-Radi Havara!

A group of bitter men-a secret League of War-was ready to plunge the world into a new, earth-wide conflict. They issued orders, and bloody organized murder was loosed in the heart of Europe! And behind this carnage, a single man was scheming to make himself the Dictator of the World! Never before had a single person conceived such a colossal plan for profiting from the slaughter of humans. He had overcome all obstacles-except one lone avenger, Operator 5, America's secret service ace. Can Jimmy Christopher keep the nations of the world from hurling themselves into a war which can bring nothing but universal defeat, misery, and slavery?

Men blanched at that name-the Scarlet Baron! Ambitious master of the united Underworld, he promised boundless riches for all! But Jimmy Christopher-Operator 5 of the Intelligence-understood the true purpose behind the new plague of rapine and murder. With the gallant Federal G-men slaughtered-with the Secret Service and militia admitting defeat-alone, wounded and heartsick Operator 5 seizes the very last chance to save our crime-beleaguered land from shameful serfdom!

Captain Combat stands beside the dead body of his mother and swears an oath, before God and man, which her murderers shall perish by his hand! Here is an American Ace, thrown into the hell and misery of Europe's war, offering his life, his courage, his guns and his flying skill, that dictators may vanish from a troubled world!

Several cases involving industrial espionage, secret formulas, a missing inventor, and two suspicious suicides are presented to investigator Milo March as a very expensive matter of insurance fraud, but the executives at Intercontinental Insurance hint there is more to the case. Milo is sent to meet with a three-star general attached to the CIA, yet he receives only minimal details and is then told there will be no communication with other agents assigned to the case-no cooperation or contact at all.Thus begins another tough adventure, leading Milo from New York City to Stockholm and Paris as he pursues a ruthless criminal with many identities in many countries. The man appears to be a well-respected businessman, yet Milo can find only the vaguest description and no photos. There is no question in his mind that this man is an international thief of industrial patents and the murderer of at least four men. He is undoubtedly responsible for kidnapping the inventor of an electronic device that will make a missile do everything except play tennis. But how he smuggled the inventor out of his hotel is a puzzle worthy of a classic locked-room detective story.To throw Milo off his trail, the shadowy villain sends thugs pointing guns, knives, and speeding cars at him. One of them will not live to regret his impudence. Amid the nerve-wracking tension, a dazzling Swedish blonde who enjoys dining in the nude is ready to soothe Milo's ruffled feathers, providing some much-needed booze and sympathy.

A man disappeared seven years ago, and his large life insurance policies are ready to come due unless he is found alive. He's a union boss and gangster who was in the midst of testifying to Congress when he mysteriously vanished. Hoping to save the insurance company a million dollars, Milo March crisscrosses the country to find out if he's still alive, with a pair of professional killers on his tail, determined to stop the investigation.

It was a well-planned heist. An armored truck had picked up money from banks to be delivered to the Federal Reserve. The car climbed the winding road of Storm King Mountain in New York State. At the summit were the men from the state highway truck, placing a detour sign in the road. Parked at the side of the road was a police car, its warning light blinking. Minutes later, the two guards from the armored car had been lured from their truck by the phony troopers and shot dead. The money that had been safely locked up in its armor-plated vault was loaded into two ordinary cars and driven away. It is Milo March's job to get the money back for the insurance company-one and a half million dollars in cash, securities, and bonds. The trail leads Milo to three more murders; the men who pulled the robbery had been killed too. As he follows the clues, he discovers that three others-two tough men and a striking blonde-had run away to Miami. They purchased a fishing boat, and the seller was found shot to death. The boat did not return. Where did they go? There was only one place to go if you had a lot of money and were wanted by the American police. Brazil had no extradition treaty with the U.S. and had long been a haven for American crooks who were loaded with loot. Is it unreasonable of Milo to think he can talk all three of them into voluntarily returning to the United States? While frequenting the beaches, bars, and nightclubs of the Marvelous City, and romancing a beautiful Latina jazz singer, Milo is steadily working on his problem: how to get the criminals back to the United States before they kill each other-with the money, securities, and bonds intact, untouched by the hands of a persistent Brazilian police lieutenant with a nose for money.

Insurance companies don't like it when someone puts a match to a house they've insured to the hilt, and in the process burns to death a couple who carry double-indemnity policies. Investigator Milo March sets out to discover who torched the Santa Monica beach house with its owners inside, and who paid them. Did the philandering husband hire a notorious gangster to do the dirty work, and trick a Skid Row bum to stand in for himself as the victim? Three other suspects are an elegant blonde, a steamy redhead, and a shapely young Japanese woman, any of whom Milo might bed or bust-or both-in the course of this fast-paced, action-packed whodunit.

An exquisite necklace of Chinese jade is stolen from wealthy New York couple, and the insurance company wants investigator Milo March to get it back so they won't have to pay out the claim. But the case soon expands from simple theft to international intrigue as Milo's only clue leads him to Hong Kong in search of a well-organized gang and its criminal mastermind.

Three businessmen go to New Orleans to skin-dive off an island where their map indicated there was ancient pirate treasure. They are accompanied by a haughty Creole guide and an African-American diviner whose chatter about spirits and spells is worthy of an Oscar. When two of the treasure seekers go off by themselves and never come back, the third man wants to cash in on the life insurance policies the three men took out, each one payable to the other two survivors. Never eager to pay up too hastily, the insurance company sends Milo March to New Orleans to find out what really happened to the two missing men. It is claimed they were accidentally sucked down into quicksand and buried in it forever―a horrible fate. But what if that's not what happened? Had the survivor killed the two men and disposed of their bodies, either to collect the insurance or get possession of the treasure they found? Had the three men entered into a conspiracy in which two would disappear and the third would collect for all of them? Or could they have stumbled onto some illegal operation on the island, leading to their kidnapping or murder? Milo is tailed by criminals and G-men, threatened by a nasty little gangster, and wooed by a cultivated Syndicate boss who swears that he abhors violence, and he almost drowns when his tank runs out of oxygen during a skin-diving expedition. An accident? Milo is so busy that he almost gets behind on his drinking, though not on his dates with a gorgeous blonde who takes him sightseeing, and more. It will require a lot of action, smarts, and patience before Milo March discovers that the key to the mystery is hiding in plain sight.

Milo March, back in uniform again, does his bit for the CIA in a quest for a paper stolen from the highest government files-a job that the government can trust only to him. Milo, relying only on his wits and seemingly unlimited American dollars, travels from Paris to East Berlin and then to Moscow. He drugs a Russian delegate at a trade congress in East Berlin and trusses him up like a chicken in order to assume his identity and attend a reception party where he comes face to face with Premier Khrushchev himself. He lures a beautiful brunette who is an important Russian spy into a date by posing as a shy comrade who just happens to have a collection of her favorite American jazz records. As if that weren't enough chutzpah, he then steals the private limo of a high Russian official and, after changing identities again, leads the secret police on an insanely dangerous goose chase. Fortified by vodka-fueled courage and the thrill of risk-taking, Milo stirs up enough trouble to make even the Kremlin see red, not to mention his own government. And before the conclusion of this tense and exciting adventure, he even endangers the entire mission to protect an enemy out of loyalty to that special breed of humans who are secret agents.

When Milo March heads for an island in the sun to recover the stolen copy of a heavily insured manuscript, it's like a one-way ticket to hell: his destination is a brutal Caribbean dictatorship called the "Monican Republic." The manuscript, a scandalous exposé of the government, is in the hands of the dictator himself, who seized it before it could be published. The author is a Monican professor who has been kidnapped on American soil and forced back to his homeland to face the wrath of the dictator. And two other men-one a U.S. citizen-have died under suspicious circumstances in connection with the kidnapping. Milo's assignment is just to get the valuable manuscript back for the insurance company. But he also wants to investigate whether the deaths of two men were murders engineered by the regime. He also wonders what had happened to the large sum that the professor withdrew from a charitable fund for Monican refugees the same day he vanished. It would be great to deliver the regime's chief assassin into the hands of the New York police. Not to mention that Milo has to figure out how to smuggle the manuscript out of the presidential palace. Oh, and what happened to the professor? There was no problem getting into the Monican Republic; it's getting out with all of this that might cause some trouble for Milo. And then there's the small difficulty of two Latina beauties who may have been set up to trap him... From the moment Milo lands in Torcido's island, he is marked for murder. The finger man is an international playboy, and the executioner is a sinister mystery man called El Nariz-"The Nose." The bait is a dark-haired Latin beauty with her own brand of Caribbean allure. It could be a lovely way to die... if only the sadistic Monican police chief doesn't finish Milo off before he can fully enjoy the perks of the job.

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.

Insurance investigator Milo March is under pressure to solve a classic whodunit in a small town. Athens, Ohio, is a place full of historic monuments, many of them still walking the streets. But now the excitement of Hollywood has burst on the scene, with a studio shooting a biopic about a rugged pioneer who played a role in the founding of Athens County. Descendants of the story's hero still live in Athens, and are the owners of valuable antiques, books, and other heirlooms passed down to them from the early 1800s. The studio has arranged to use these gems of Americana as props, insuring them with a million-dollar policy. With such a large sum at stake, the insurance company sends Milo to check on the security measures at the little museum where the items are housed under guard.The job seems like a snap-until a bludgeoned body and a lot of smashed-open cases send everyone into a panic. Among the stolen items is a personal diary written by Hanna's wife, which appears to be an object of intense interest, or even obsession. Milo can't imagine why a diary from the early 1800s should be so dangerous as to lead to murder, but he'll have to find out. Was it a matter of greed, professional ambition, or something bizarre like a delusional fixation on the long-dead pioneer woman who penned the diary? If being unpleasant or eccentric made someone a murderer, then there was full cast of characters to choose from, including a pedantic historian, a shiftless ex-cop, and a couple of snooping old biddies, not to mention a scheming scriptwriter, a genius director, and a man-eating blonde starlet.Murder wasn't supposed to happen in Athens, Ohio, and the cops want these crimes to be solved fast. The pressure is on Milo to identify the killer before he strikes again-and to recover the heirlooms before anyone cashes in the million-dollar policy.

It's been two years since Milo March sneaked into East Germany to capture a valuable Western deserter. Now, as a major in the Army Reserves, he is recalled to tackle a much weirder case. No one knows why Hermann Gruss, head of the counterespionage police in West Germany, disappeared behind the Iron Curtain. Did he defect voluntarily, or was he taken by force? Either way, Milo has to get him back before he reveals secrets that the U.S. shared with him.Some say Gruss suffers from a dread disease and is being treated in East Berlin with the latest wonder drug by his friend Dr. Oderbruch. Milo suspects that Oderbruch, a former Nazi, is experimenting on Gruss, bouncing him in and out of insanity like a yo-yo by dosing him with LSD, then healing his "schizophrenia" with an antidote. Withholding the antidote is a handy way to squeeze information out of Gruss, and the drug experiments are part of a larger, fiendish project involving mind control of the military.In his effort to gain access to Oderbruch and find Gruss, Milo ends up in the arms of the lustful Frau Beate, who plies him with Soviet champagne and vodka. Milo is reasonably safe if hangovers are the only menace. But when his disguise as a Russian secret-police agent is blown, he is packed off to a mental hospital. There he joins Gruss as the doctor's latest guinea pig.Milo survived a marathon interrogation by the Communists during his last mission. But this is different-the hallucinogenic effects of LSD threaten to splinter his mind into pieces. How will he escape the closely guarded hospital, bringing both Gruss and the evil Oderbruch back with him to the West? Milo's quick-witted action and sheer nerve, not to mention his irreverence toward authority figures on both sides, make for the wildest trip of all-an insane car chase back to the Free World.

Samson Hercules Carter is a little man with a big name who has fallen obsessively in love with a diamond. The Tavernier Blue is only a little smaller than a golf ball and worth a fortune. To insurance investigator Milo March, the hunk of carbon doesn't seem as attractive as the equivalent in cash, but he can see why the little man might want to put it in his pocket and take a walk. But the problem is, Carter has also shot a man to death in the process. The insurance company sends Milo to track down the murderer and recover the stolen diamond-a task made all the more urgent because he's got competition. Some of the world's top jewel thieves would also like to get their hands on the diamond, from sinister professionals to a beautiful seductress. In one of Milo's wildest adventures ever, the chase takes him from New York to Lisbon and Madrid, where the thief, a mild-mannered accountant, has transformed himself into a new identity as a cultured gentleman, an alternate personality that he has secretly developed for years. Getting the thief back to America for prosecution is challenge enough-but where the hell did the little man hide the diamond?The Man Inside was made into an English film of the same name in 1958, directed by John Gilling and starring Jack Palance and Anita Eckberg.

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.

In this action-packed Cold War spy adventure, Milo March-private detective and former OSS officer during World War II-is recruited by Army intelligence to carry out a dangerous mission behind the Iron Curtain. An important British diplomat has defected to East Germany, carrying with him secrets about British and American codes. He can also help the Communists gain access to a physicist working in the British Sector on a top-secret project that involves tampering with energy fields affecting the human brain―a bizarre process that could disastrously alter the nature of warfare. "Operation Berlin" demands that Milo kidnap the diplomat before the Russians make him talk.Disguised as an American Communist delegate to an international Peace Festival in Berlin, Milo dashes into the Soviet Zone just as the news leaks that an American agent is coming to the event. Surrounded by suspicious comrades, he is congratulated on his mastery of Lenin quotes one moment, while the next he is subjected to arrest and a torturous interrogation. Even when he scores a point, he never knows whether he is fooling them or they are fooling him. While treading this unbearable tightrope of tension, he is distracted by two beautiful women: the sexually aggressive blonde Frieda and the soft-eyed, black-haired Greta, who has some secrets of her own. Either or both of these feminine comrades could be on the verge of betraying him. Although the efficient and fearless Milo always insists on working alone, help comes from an unexpected quarter in the nick of time.