Todhunter Ballard
Personal Information
Description
Willis Todhunter Ballard was born in Cleveland, Ohio. His first short story appeared in Hunter-Trader-Trapper magazine when he was twelve. Starting in 1933, his short stories began appearing in Black Mask magazine. Ballard wrote about one thousand short stores and novelettes for the pulps. His stories were also published in such popular mainstream magazines as The Saturday Evening Post, This Week, McCall’s, and Esquire. Ballard was also a prolific novelist, with about twenty mystery novels and more than 60 Westerns. In addition to his own name, he used about fifteen pseudonyms. Ballard was the first cousin of writer Rex Stout, who created Nero Wolfe. They both shared the middle name of Todhunter. Source
Books
The night riders
Jim Gatlin rode into Cedar Creek hunting the man who had framed him for a crime he didn't commit. Pinkerton agent Charlie Pine had located the real train robber, called Hood, but outlaws Hidalgo, Wilson and River were also after him for the fortune locked away in a safe at Hood's home. Why was Hood's location a dark secret - even in Cedar Creek? Why were Marshal Jax Silva and the two hard men, Green and Mundt, determined to keep it that way? Against overwhelming odds, Gatlin would have to face a bloody showdown and it would take all his skill and courage to unlock a truly shocking secret.
Gold in California!
"Some called it madness, some a fantasy. Yet the promise of untold wealth drew people west like bees to honey. Determined to strike the mother lode, young Austin Garner and his family set out to cross the untamed American continent. The going was brutal- nearly three thousand miles of desert, disease, and death- and without extraordinary strength and courage, the pioneers would surely have perished."--back cover.