Joseph LeValley

Winter is cold, but fear is just as numbing.

And death is the most permanent of all.

A rural deputy sheriff’s suspicious death in Chicago draws small-town reporter Tony Harrington to the Windy City to investigate. Within days he discovers facts the police either missed or chose to ignore – facts that lead him to a white supremacist militia that calls itself The Patriots of Victory One.

In a dangerous and foolhardy late-night incursion into the POVO camp, Tony finds evidence of an impending attack of incomprehensible scale and cruelty. To make matters worse, POVO and its plans may be funded by one of America’s greatest enemies.

Tony and his girlfriend, actress Darcy Gillson, face multiple threats in their efforts to expose and stop the POVO plot. What they learn grips their hearts in a fear as dark and as cold as a winter night in the Midwest. Though the FBI, the CIA, and the military mobilize to respond, the safety of thousands may rely on the courage and determination of a handful of civilians. The countdown has started as they race to prevent the deadly strike that could be fatal to everything we hold dear.

The simple toss of a coin presents young journalist Tony Harrington with a fascinating puzzle. And puzzles, he knows, can lead to good stories. As he begins a search for the origins of a particularly unique quarter, he finds himself immersed in a sixty-year-old mystery—an unsolved bank robbery ending in the brutal murder of its president.

As his suspicions of a connection to the past grow, Tony digs deeper, sparking a reaction from evil people determined to keep their secrets buried in the past. The result is two new murders and the disappearance of a teenage boy. The people of Orney, Iowa react in fear and outrage, increasing the pressure on Tony and his colleagues to find the missing boy and solve the latest crimes. With the help of state investigator Rich Davis and Hollywood actress Darcy Gillson, Tony charges ahead in the search for answers. The suspense escalates further when Tony’s boss, Ben Smalley, offers refuge to an ex-girlfriend fleeing a violent, abusive husband. As these intertwined stories unfold, the danger grows, violence erupts, and fear for the missing boy intensifies. Throughout it all, the huge amount of stolen money still is missing…

Join Tony, his loyal friends, and his dedicated fellow journalists as they race to find the missing boy, stop a murderer from killing again, find a fortune in stolen cash, and once again prove the “Sophocles Rule” that dark secrets cannot remain hidden forever.

The violent death of a famous actress rocks the rural Iowa town of Orney, where a Hollywood movie company is filming on location. Local newspaper reporter Tony Harrington is stunned by the murder, as he was one of the last people to see her alive. Tony finds himself further entwined in the case when it’s learned the actress was seen riding in his car on the night she was killed, and when her former lover attacks him and his best friend. Soon Tony’s world view is shattered when someone he loves is officially charged with the murder, and the evidence collected by the authorities is indisputable. As Tony desperately seeks an alternative solution to the case, he finds it may have ties to a family secret from thirty years in the past. As the investigation intensifies, so does the action, leaving a second person dead and a third lying on the ground with a bullet hole in his side. At the point where Tony is ready to give up and concede the unthinkable is true, a newfound love convinces him to dig deeper. Her strength, intelligence, and belief in Tony helps him cling to hope and begin to unravel the truth, right up until the murderer fights back, putting Tony in the greatest peril of his life. Join Tony as he races against time to save an innocent man, win a woman’s heart, and stop a criminal genius from once again “performing murder.”

The unexpected death of a favorite cousin takes Iowa newspaper reporter Tony Harrington and his mother, Carlotta, to the Amalfi Coast of Italy for the funeral. While there, Tony learns beautiful young Noemi’s fall from the seawall may not have been an accident. For days before her death, she had been stalked by a man believed to be connected to organized crime in Italy and America. Despite the warnings of everyone from his mother to the head of the local polizia, Tony is determined to identify, find, and bring to justice the man responsible for Noemi’s fatal plunge. His quest takes him from Italy to New York City, where he is joined by his best friend, Doug Tenney, and where he meets and falls hard for Erica, the daughter of a real estate tycoon. Tony’s relentless pursuit of the man who stalked and killed Noemi puts him and his friends in serious peril, as they provoke the anger not only of the alleged killer, but of one of New York’s most powerful and ruthless crime bosses. Follow Tony on his journey through Italy and New York as he searches for the truth and risks everything to get “the third side” of the story.

A late-night cry for help from a teenage girl puts Tony Harrington and his colleagues at a small-town newspaper onto the trail of a ring of human traffickers. The girl's description of the horrors she and others have endured fuels the determination of Tony and fellow journalist Madeline Mueller to find and stop the wicked people who are enslaving and abusing children. When one of the young victims is found buried in a shallow grave close to home, the chase escalates to a fever pitch, with county, state, and federal investigators joining in the hunt. What Tony and Madeline don't realize is that, as they grow closer to finding the victims and their captors, they are now in the crosshairs of the very people who have proven their willingness to commit vile crimes to satisfy their desires. This second Tony Harrington mystery-thriller by Joseph LeValley draws on today's heart-wrenching headlines regarding the pervasiveness and unspeakable evil of human trafficking. LeValley again creates a story with compelling characters and all the elements of a "must-read" thriller: drama, action, romance, tragedy, villains, and heroes. Join Tony and his colleagues as they risk everything to save a group of children they've never seen.

A horrific double murder in small town Iowa leads to the arrest and trial of the young man who owned the murder weapon. Tony Harrington, a reporter for the local daily paper, doesn’t believe the man is guilty. His search for the truth sparks a chain of events with tragic consequences. Undaunted, Tony pushes on, risking everything to uncover the most important facts – the story’s true “lede.” But even Tony can’t imagine the magnitude of the evil he’s facing or the true purpose behind the crimes that have besieged this quiet Iowa town. A first novel from author Joseph LeValley, Burying the Lede has it all: mystery, courtroom drama, romance, action, tragedy, villains, and heroes. Throughout the book, LeValley draws on his real-life experiences as a newspaper reporter to create a narrative with compelling details about the worlds of newspapers and the criminal justice system. The novel is as entertaining as it is shocking. Once you start reading Burying the Lede, you won’t want to put it down. And each time Tony Harrington gets called out in the middle of the night, you will find yourself looking forward to going along for the ride.