Todhunter Ballard


Willis Todhunter Ballard was an American writer, known for his Westerns and mystery novels.

Pseudonyms

Ballard was a prolific pulp writer, most notably for the legendary mystery magazine Black Mask under the name W.T. Ballard. He also authored several mystery and crime novels under that name. Ballard wrote western novels as Todhunter Ballard and the following pseudonyms: P.D. Ballard, Neil MacNeil, Jack Slade, Hunter D'Allard, Clay Turner, John Hunter, Sam Bowie, Parker Bonner, Brian Fox, and Clint Reno. He wrote numerous teleplays for shows such as Death Valley Days and Shannon.

Personal

Ballard was born on December 13, 1903, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Ballard attended schools in Cleveland and Westtown Township, Pennsylvania. In 1926 he graduated from Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio. He was married to Phoebe Dwiggins, daughter of Clare Victor Dwiggins, the popular American cartoonist known as "Dwig."
Ballard was a cousin of acclaimed mystery writer Rex Stout.
He died December 27, 1980.

Work

Ballard wrote thousands of magazine stories and over fifty television scripts. Almost all of these stories were in the mystery or western genre.
Ballard died on December 27, 1980, in Mount Dora, Florida.
"Many of Ballard's novels are set... in Las Vegas, and he always does a convincing job of portraying this fascinating, seldom utilized desert locale with its wide-open casinos, its moral ambiguity, and the uneasy alliance between gamblers and police."—Stephen Mertz

Partial bibliography

Mysteries/Crime

  • Say Yes to Murder
  • Murder Can't Stop
  • Murder in Hollywood
  • Walk in Fear
  • Chance Elson
  • Murder Las Vegas Style
  • Fury in the Heart
  • Pretty Miss Murder
  • The Seven Sisters
  • Mexican Slay Ride
  • Three for the Money
  • Death Takes an Option as Neil MacNeil
  • Third on a Seesaw as Neil MacNeil
  • Two Guns For Hire as Neil MacNeil
  • Hot Dam as Neil MacNeil
  • The Death Ride as Neil MacNeil
  • Mexican Slay Ride as Neil MacNeil
  • The Spy Catchers as Neil MacNeil
  • Brothers in Blood as PD Ballard
  • Angel of Death as PD Ballard
  • The Death Brokers as PD Ballard

Westerns

  • Two-Edged Vengeance aka The Circle C Feud
  • Incident at Sun Mountain
  • West of Quarantine
  • High Iron
  • Oulaw Brand as Parker Bonner
  • Trigger Trail
  • Guns of the Lawless
  • Trail Town Marshall
  • The Marshall from Deadwood as John Hunter
  • Trouble on the Massacre
  • The Night Riders
  • The Long Sword as Hunter D'Allard
  • Gopher Gold
  • Desperation Valley
  • Gold in California!
  • Lassiter as Jack Slade
  • The Wild Bunch as Brian Fox
  • Sabata as Brian Fox
  • A Western Bonanza: Eight Short Novels of the West
  • Chisum as Sam Bowie
  • The Californian
  • Nowhere Left to Run
  • Loco and the Wolf
  • Home to Texas
  • Sierra Massacre as Clint Reno
  • Trails of Rage
  • The Sheriff of Tombstone
  • ''Lost Gold: A Western Duo''

Awards

  • Spur Award, 1965 for ‘’Gold in California!’’.