It was more like a reunion for the Dayton native whose family goes back five generations in the southeast Webster County community.

“In the photo of the first school being built there’s S.E. Levalley laying shingles,” he said. “He was my great-great-grandfather. My great-grandfather Dan was a school bus driver.”

Levalley currently has three books in print: “Burying the Lede,” “Cry From an Unknown Grave” and “The Third Side of Murder.”

Each features fictional journalist Tony Harrington, a reporter at the fictional Orney Town Crier. Except for his latest work, set in New York City and Italy, each is set in a small Iowa city called Orney.

-Photo by Hans Madsen
Iowa author and Dayton native Joe Levalley signs a copy of “Cry From An Unknown Grave,” for Cheryl Toyne, of Dayton, during a book signing and author’s talk at the Dayton Public Library. All three books follow the adventures of fictional Iowa reporter Tony Harrington. The notebooks are printed with the logo of the fictional Orney Town Crier.

“It’s somewhere out west, somewhere between here and Carroll,” he joked.

Some of the audience included classmates.

“Ties go deep here,” he said. “It’s wonderful to be home.”

Joanne Ekstom, of Dayton, who attended school with Levalley as Joanne Namechek, remembers him well.

“I was in his brother’s class,” she said. “Class of ’75.”

She got a signed copy of “The Third Side of Murder.”

“We’re getting all three,” she said. “I was so excited to read the stories.”

She even recognized him in the main character, Tony Harrington.

“He would listen to KIOA,” she said. “He liked The Who, that was Joe’s favorite band.”

The first novel, “Burying the Lede” focuses on Harrington covering a murder trial and then finding that the person at the defendants bench, isn’t actually the murderer. The idea grew from his own experiences as a court and cops reporter at the Globe Gazette.

“I was covering a murder trial and I asked myself what might be going on that would cause the wrong person to be on trial.” he said. “This was in the late ’70s and I thought that would be a cool idea for a crime novel.”

The character and the book went into stasis for awhile.

“We had just bought a brand new Apple II E computer,” he said. “I got six chapters done then I put it in a drawer for 25 years.”

Levalley had just retired from a long career in public relations for the health care industry when thoughts of his children inspired him to finish the book.

“I wanted my kids to be able to say my dad published a novel,” he said. “Not that he wrote a novel. I made up my mind to write something every day, I finished it in four months. It came out in December of 2018.”

His second book, “Cry From An Unknown Grave,” takes a darker turn.

Harrington battles a group of human traffickers and tries to help their victims.

“I knew I needed a big topic,” he said. “Human trafficking was in the news a lot and it touches on a lot of social, legal, moral and philosophical issues. When I started researching I was overwhelmed by what I learned. It’s unbelievable what human beings are willing to do to other human beings. This problem wouldn’t exist if there weren’t people willing to buy the product. It’s people that you go to church with.”

Even a fictional hero has his limits though.

“I knew Tony couldn’t solve human trafficking in one story,” Levalley said. “He’s on the trail of a specific group and their victims.”

His latest book, only recently published, finds Harrington in New York City and Italy.

“It was time to lighten up and give people some fun again,” he said.

Well, sort of.

Harrington’s fictional cousin is murdered in the book.

While Levalley has visited both places, research for the book took some modern twists and turns. For the opening chapter, he needed a sea wall.

“I got on Google Earth,” he said. “Then I began in the north, scrolled down to people and cars level and went along the coast till I found a sea wall that looked like what I had envisioned. That’s how it ended up set in Amalfi.”

Levalley currently has his fourth book in the editing stages and a fifth written. He’s being a good reporter and protecting his sources about the plots, turns and twists.

“I was taught not to share your great writing ideas verbally,” he said. “I won’t tell you how they end.”

He’s still enjoying the process of creating adventures for the fictional Harrington.

“It’s great fun to see where to take him next,” he said.

All three of his books can be purchased in Dayton at Kelso’s General Merchandise on Main Street and unlike copies purchased from online sellers, each is signed.

Also available, an actual reporters notebook with the logo of the fictional Orney Town Crier.

Cheryl Toyne, of Dayton, had also picked up a couple of Levalley’s books during the signing, they’re next on her reading list.

“For sure,” she said.

They go back a few years.

“We went to school together,” she said. “He was two years ahead, we were good friends.”