Sanborn and Frederic Freyer, Ballinger authored almost 30 books and twenty-five short stories.
His mysteries sold more than ten million copies in the U.S., and have been reprinted in thirty countries and translated into more than thirteen languages.
[4] His most famous work, Portrait in Smoke, published in 1950, received a Les Grands Maîtres du Roman Policier Award and was filmed in 1956 as Wicked as they Come.
[5] Ballinger's two main fictional characters in his novels were Chicago private investigator Barr Breed[6] and Native American Central Intelligence Agency Agent Joaquin Hawke.
[9] These included seven teleplays for Alfred Hitchcock Presents (one of which, "The Day of the Bullet," based on a short story by Stanley Ellin, won him an Edgar for Best Half-Hour Teleplay in 1961), two episodes of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, several police television shows such as Tightrope and Ironside and the episode "The Mice" for The Outer Limits.