Dark kill

13 December 1903 – 27 December 1980

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 midd…