John Billheimer Books in Order

Federal investigator Owen Allison arrives in Contrary, West Virginia, to examine a questionable transit grant after the previous auditor dies. Initially sympathetic to the struggling town, he faces another death and must uncover the secrets behind its finances before becoming a victim himself.

An old body discovered beneath a West Virginia road draws Owen Allison into an investigation tied to his family’s history. When a contemporary murder implicates his brother, Owen must unravel misdeeds from different decades to uncover the truth and protect his family.

Back in West Virginia to care for his mother, Owen Allison encounters dishonest hospital administrators and a questionable development project. His aunt confesses after a fatal confrontation over dumping, but Owen suspects she is protecting someone and sets out to clear her.

A coal-sludge dam fails in West Virginia, killing four people just as Owen Allison prepares to leave his hometown. Hired by a former classmate who owns the mine, he investigates the disaster’s cause amid the claims and schemes that follow the flooding.

After a small West Virginia bank’s president dies, examiners discover an enormous shortfall. Efforts to recover the money through asset auctions are complicated by a missing museum curator and suspicious accidents, drawing Owen Allison into the aftermath of a major financial fraud.

John Billheimer examines why certain baseball players become lifelong scapegoats for costly mistakes while others escape lasting blame for similar errors. Comparing notorious incidents, he considers how circumstances and public memory turn individual miscues into defining judgments on entire careers.

Sportswriter Lloyd Keaton investigates when a baseball trainer is implicated in steroid abuse following a star hitter’s death. Fighting his own gambling problem, Keaton confronts mobsters and a crusading politician while trying to establish what really happened to the player.

Lloyd Keaton agrees to write a retired star pitcher’s biography, hoping to revive his own sportswriting career. After the pitcher disappears in a boating accident, Keaton uncovers blackmail and dark secrets that make continuing the project increasingly dangerous.

John Billheimer follows Alfred Hitchcock’s negotiations with film censors, examining their effect on his work movie by movie. The study connects the history of the Production Code with Hitchcock’s tactics for preserving scenes, developing suspense, and testing restrictions on screen content.

Owen Allison investigates suspected vote-buying during a presidential primary involving a family that once ruined his consulting firm. A former partner’s suicide, stolen records, and an exploding bomb suggest the election intrigue may also be a deadly reckoning with Owen’s past.