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John Dudley Ball

Author profile

born

July 08, 1911 in Schenectady, The United States

died

October 15, 1988

gender

male

About this author

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John Dudley Ball (July 8, 1911 – October 15, 1988), writing as John Ball, was an American writer best known for mystery novels involving the African-American police detective Virgil Tibbs. He was introduced in the 1965 In the Heat of the Night where he solves a murder in a racist Southern small town. It won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America and was made into an Oscar-winning film of the same name starring Sidney Poitier; the film had two sequels, and spawned a television series several decades later, none of which were based on Ball's later Tibbs stories.

Ball was born in Schenectady, New York, grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and attended Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He wrote for a number of...more

combine editions
Books by John Dudley Ball

Average rating: 3.65 · 475 ratings · 58 reviews · 32 distinct works

	In the Heat of the Night 357 avg rating — 300 ratings — published 1965 — 16 editions	My rating:
	Johnny Get Your Gun: A Novel (Virgil Tibbs Mystery Novel) 404 avg rating — 50 ratings — 6 editions	My rating:
	Miss One Thousand Spring Blossoms 390 avg rating — 30 ratings — published 1969 — 3 editions	My rating:
	The Cool Cottontail 392 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 1966 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Five Pieces of Jade 354 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 1972 — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Eyes of Buddha 342 avg rating — 12 ratings — 5 editions	My rating:
	The First Team 356 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 1971 — 2 editions	My rating:
	The Van: A Tale of Terror 400 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 1989	My rating:
	Police chief 350 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1977 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Then came violence 400 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1980 — 3 editions	My rating:

More books by John Dudley Ball…

Series by John Dudley Ball

Virgil Tibbs (7 books)
by John Dudley Ball

364 avg rating — 399 ratings

Quotes by John Dudley Ball

“To make progress in understanding all this, we probably need to begin with simplified (oversimplified?) models and ignore the critics' tirade that the real world is more complex. The real world is always more complex, which has the advantage that we shan't run out of work.”
― John Dudley Ball

tags: determinism , oversimplification , reductionism

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Goodreads Librarians: combine editions	19	35	30 oct. 06:11
Gigi's Company: ABC	1088	324	5 hours, 1 min ago