John Ball: Chief Tallon and the S.O.R. (USA 2014)

From the Publisher:
GOOD AND EVIL
The sleepy town of Whitewater is hosting the annual convention for the S.O.R., the Society for Open Relationships, an intimate group of radical sexual practitioners. As soon as television evangelist Ezekiel Moses finds out about it, he sends in his Morality Strike Force to disrupt the proceedings.

When the convention turns into chaos, Police Chief Jack Tallon steps in to take control. But he's too late, because now there's a murder to be solved...

The son of a scientist, John Ball was born in Schenectady, New York, and grew up In Milwaukee. He attended Carroll College in Wisconsin. He subsequently worked as a science staff writer on Fortune, a music critic and feature writer for the Brooklyn Eagle, a daily columnist on 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. His In the Heat of the Night was awarded a Mystery Writers of America "Edgar' for the Best First Mystery Novel of the Year, and since had been followed by The Cool Cottontail, also featuring his African-American detective, Virgil Tibbs. Mr. Ball has also authored a number of notable young adult books.

John Ball: Chief Tallon and the S.O.R.. A Chief Jack Tallon Crime Novel. Speaking Volumes, ISBN: 9781612329888 (May, 2014), 207 p., $14.95. eBook $9.99.

John Ball: Chief Tallon and the S.O.R. (USA 1984)

From the Publisher:
Chief Jack Tallon of the White-water police department is back in another unusual novel about crime in the little town of Whitewater. He had a highly controversial convention on his hands, a publicity-hungry evangelist who was committed to disrupting it, a hit-and-run accident that could turn into manslaughter -- and finally a first-class murder.

Trouble started when members of the Society for Open Relationships gathered for their annual convention. Although the organization was sedate enough, the Reverend Ezekiel Moses was determined to break up the convention, and he had brought a band of followers who were prepared for physical confrontations.

There were questions to be answered about the evangelist's motives, about events that took place in his past, and there was also much to be disclosed about his right-hand man, Brother Willis Slattery. Perhaps if Tallon had had the answers to the questions about the unwelcome strangers, the murder would not have taken place.

Here is a fascinating police procedural, with its convincing complications and characters, as well as with its suspense and surprises.

John Ball: Chief Tallon and the S.O.R.. A Novel of Suspense. New York: Dodd, Mead, & Co., 1984, ISBN: 0396083080, 194 p., $11.95.