found: His Records for pleasure, 1947.
found: Phone call to Elysium Press, 05-29-91(John Dudley Ball, also used pseud. Donald Johnson [non-fiction])
found: In the heat of the night, 2015:ECIP t.p. (John Ball) data view (JOHN BALL (1911-1988) wrote more than thirty novels, including mysteries, war fiction, and adventure stories; his Virgil Tibbs series remains his best-known work; born in Schenectady, New York, and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; OCCUPATIONS: he was a part-time police officer in Los Angeles for a time and also worked as a science writer for Fortune, a music critic and feature writer for the Brooklyn Eagle, a daily columnist for the New York World-Telegram & Sun, a broadcaster for a Washington radio station, and a director of public relations for the Institute of Aerospace Sciences. Despite considerable pressure from his editor, Ball insisted on making Virgil Tibbs a black man, garnering him praise for progressive thinking and a keen understanding of racial prejudice; he won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award for In the Heat of the Night, which was named one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association)
found: New York times online, August 14, 2015:obit. for October 18, 1988 (John Ball; born in Schenectady, N.Y. on July 8, 1911; a music critic turned mystery writer died; the author of some 35 books translated into 17 languages, Mr. Ball's best-known book is ''In the Heat of the Night'' (1965), which won an Emmy from the Mystery Writers of America; the film version won the Academy Award as the best motion picture of 1967)
found: Email from publisher (Penguin Books) 08-17-2015:(John Ball; 1911-1988; no evidence that he used a pseudonym)
found: Hartman, W.E. Nudist society, c1991:CIP t.p. (Donald Johnson) galley (d. 1989)
found: Hodges, Sam. Bare facts fill these bookshelves, in Orlando sentinel, May 31, 1990, viewed online, March 26, 2020(Donald Johnson, also known as John Ball, author of In the heat of the night; his publisher made him write under a different name, Donald Johnson; John Ball's widow donated his large collection of nudist literature to the American Nudist Research Library) - https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1990-05-31-9005300572-story.html found: Wikipedia, March 27, 2020(John Ball (novelist); John Dudley Ball (July 8, 1911 - October 15, 1988); American writer best known for mystery novels involving the African-American police detective Virgil Tibbs; born in Schenectady, New York, grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; was a nudist; lived in Encino, California, and died there in 1988. He was a member of the exclusive The Baker Street Irregulars, a society of ardent Sherlock Holmes fans; buried at the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles)
