M. E. CHABER – The Flaming Man. Milo March #18. Holt Rinehart & Winston, hardcover, 1969. Paperback Library, paperback, June 1970; cover art by Robert McGinnis. Steeger Books, softcover, 2021.

   Milo March isn’t quite a private eye, but as an freelance insurance investigator, he’s the next best thing. He’s hired in this case to handle a building fire in L.A. that occurred soon after the riots there. Worse, three bodies are found in the ashes, all three burnt beyond identification. Since the owner of the building has disappeared, it is assumed he is one of three.

   As long time mystery readers, we know better than that, don’t we?

   On a hardboiled scale ranging from 1 to 10, the best I can offer is 2.5, and at that, I think I’m stretching it. The pace is leisurely. Nothing much happens until it does and the book is over. Milo can be a little tough when he needs to be, but it doesn’t happen often enough. He does do a lot of drinking, and I mean a lot. He has a bottle or glass of liquid spirits in hand that averages out to nearly every other page. He is at one time forced to drink Cokes steadily over several pages. Never again, he says.

   This is a book that at least one reader found entertaining enough to keep reading, but taking two months to do so is another long stretch of time that I thought maybe I should tell you about. You can take it from there.