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A Ghostwriter Mystery #1
Ghostwriter
With her books sporting other people’s names, ghostwriter Jake O’Hara works behind the scenes. But she never expected a séance at a New York apartment to be part of her job.
Jake had signed on as a ghostwriter, secretly writing for a grande dame of mystery fiction whose talent died before she did. The author’s East Side residence was impressive. But her entourage—from a Mrs. Danvers-like housekeeper to a lurking hypnotherapist—was creepy.
Still, it was all in a day’s work, until a killer started going after ghostwriters, and Jake suspected she was chillingly close to the culprit. Attending a séance and asking the dead for spiritual help was one option.
Some brilliant sleuthing was another-before Jake’s next deadline turns out to be her own funeral.
Jake had signed on as a ghostwriter, secretly writing for a grande dame of mystery fiction whose talent died before she did. The author’s East Side residence was impressive. But her entourage—from a Mrs. Danvers-like housekeeper to a lurking hypnotherapist—was creepy.
Still, it was all in a day’s work, until a killer started going after ghostwriters, and Jake suspected she was chillingly close to the culprit. Attending a séance and asking the dead for spiritual help was one option.
Some brilliant sleuthing was another-before Jake’s next deadline turns out to be her own funeral.
- GenresMystery
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
2 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
Noreen Wald
19 books25 followersaka Nora Charles.
Noreen lives in downtown Sarasota, Florida, across the street from the Performing Arts Center, with her husband, Steve, and an Australian Shepherd, named Champ. Their sons visit often. Hey, surf and sun are great lures.
Series:
* A Ghostwriter Mystery
Noreen lives in downtown Sarasota, Florida, across the street from the Performing Arts Center, with her husband, Steve, and an Australian Shepherd, named Champ. Their sons visit often. Hey, surf and sun are great lures.
Series:
* A Ghostwriter Mystery
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 15, 2016
This book is being republished as Ghostwriter Anonmyous by Henery Press in 2016.
Cosy mysteries, also referred to simply as "cosies", are a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence are downplayed or treated humorously, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community according to Wikipedia.
The community in this novel being that of Ghostwriters.
Now ghostwriters are rarely acknowledged and it is rare for them to be even mentioned in the acknowledgements of books that they have written. Yet it is often well known that a number of high profile people have had their memoirs written by ghostwriters.
James Patterson has now got to the point where he acknowledges his ghostwriters as co-authors eg Peter de Jonge.
It is interesting that if you Google ghostwriters you are immediately faced with a number of companies offering such services.
And one is very blatant – Andrew Crofts who, according to his website, has published more than eighty books, a dozen of which were Sunday Times number one bestsellers.
He has also ‘guided’ a number of international clients through this genre and is said, to be the UK ghostwriter.
He has written his own book ‘Confessions of a Ghostwriter’ and also a handbook for those who want to be one.. He says that ghostwriting gives him the opportunity to write, be paid and to stay at home when the ‘author’ has to undertake the hard work of publicity. If they are lucky they will also split the profit 50/50.
So you can be a professional writer with little or none of the uncertainty and lots of cash. Hence the fact that in this novel, the ghostwriters swan around in high fashion labels and clearly have money to spare – or at least the more successful ones do.
And is this point where I thought the novel showed its age.
I found out that it had originally been published in 1999 because the fashion that is discussed is very clearly of that age and it is a shame that it was not updated when republished. The same goes for the style of the interiors. Both of these I found off-putting in a novel due out in 2016.
Now Wikipedia says that the detectives in cosy stories are nearly always amateurs and women. Here we have one of the ghostwriters herself taking on this role.
They are typically well educated, intuitive, and often hold jobs that bring them into constant contact with other residents of the surrounding region. Well the ‘detective’ is a member and friends with all the local ghostwriters as they all go to socials together and even have their own version of alcoholics anonymous to deal with their feelings of being out of the limelight – unlike Andrew Crofts.
Now in cosies the murderers are typically neither psychopaths nor serial killers, and, once unmasked, are usually taken into custody without violence. They are generally members of the community where the murder occurs, able to hide in plain sight, and their motives—greed, jealousy, revenge—are often rooted in events years, or even generations, old.
In fact in this book there were 2 deaths before we were 30% of the way through – and I thought ‘o oh do we have a Midsummer’s Murders, here?’, but no we didn’t kill off 90% of the cast before the end of the book!
Apart from my criticism over the fashion I thought this was a well written book of the genre. I didn’t guess the murderer at all so to me this is a sign of excellent craftsmanship.
I also liked a number of the characters especially the medium – she was wonderfully kooky and you were left wondering whether or not she really did contact the dead.
Cosy mysteries, also referred to simply as "cosies", are a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence are downplayed or treated humorously, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community according to Wikipedia.
The community in this novel being that of Ghostwriters.
Now ghostwriters are rarely acknowledged and it is rare for them to be even mentioned in the acknowledgements of books that they have written. Yet it is often well known that a number of high profile people have had their memoirs written by ghostwriters.
James Patterson has now got to the point where he acknowledges his ghostwriters as co-authors eg Peter de Jonge.
It is interesting that if you Google ghostwriters you are immediately faced with a number of companies offering such services.
And one is very blatant – Andrew Crofts who, according to his website, has published more than eighty books, a dozen of which were Sunday Times number one bestsellers.
He has also ‘guided’ a number of international clients through this genre and is said, to be the UK ghostwriter.
He has written his own book ‘Confessions of a Ghostwriter’ and also a handbook for those who want to be one.. He says that ghostwriting gives him the opportunity to write, be paid and to stay at home when the ‘author’ has to undertake the hard work of publicity. If they are lucky they will also split the profit 50/50.
So you can be a professional writer with little or none of the uncertainty and lots of cash. Hence the fact that in this novel, the ghostwriters swan around in high fashion labels and clearly have money to spare – or at least the more successful ones do.
And is this point where I thought the novel showed its age.
I found out that it had originally been published in 1999 because the fashion that is discussed is very clearly of that age and it is a shame that it was not updated when republished. The same goes for the style of the interiors. Both of these I found off-putting in a novel due out in 2016.
Now Wikipedia says that the detectives in cosy stories are nearly always amateurs and women. Here we have one of the ghostwriters herself taking on this role.
They are typically well educated, intuitive, and often hold jobs that bring them into constant contact with other residents of the surrounding region. Well the ‘detective’ is a member and friends with all the local ghostwriters as they all go to socials together and even have their own version of alcoholics anonymous to deal with their feelings of being out of the limelight – unlike Andrew Crofts.
Now in cosies the murderers are typically neither psychopaths nor serial killers, and, once unmasked, are usually taken into custody without violence. They are generally members of the community where the murder occurs, able to hide in plain sight, and their motives—greed, jealousy, revenge—are often rooted in events years, or even generations, old.
In fact in this book there were 2 deaths before we were 30% of the way through – and I thought ‘o oh do we have a Midsummer’s Murders, here?’, but no we didn’t kill off 90% of the cast before the end of the book!
Apart from my criticism over the fashion I thought this was a well written book of the genre. I didn’t guess the murderer at all so to me this is a sign of excellent craftsmanship.
I also liked a number of the characters especially the medium – she was wonderfully kooky and you were left wondering whether or not she really did contact the dead.
August 1, 2023
I enjoyed this book, the step back in time (I read the first publication, the newer one might not be set in the same time frame), the setting and most of the characters. I did not solve the mystery before Jake and I like that quality in a mystery. I found this book on my daughter's book shelf and was intrigued by the cover. It reminded me of a Clue game. I will probably pick up the other four books in the series.
January 16, 2017
Since I don't normally write reviews unless I have something specific to say, here's the break down of how I rate my books...
1 star... This book was bad, so bad I may have given up and skipped to the end. I will avoid this author like the plague in the future.
2 stars... This book was not very good, and I won't be reading any more from the author.
3 stars... This book was ok, but I won't go out of my way to read more, But if I find another book by the author for under a dollar I'd pick it up.
4 stars... I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the look out to pick up more from the series/author.
5 stars... I loved this book! It has earned a permanent home in my collection and I'll be picking up the rest of the series and other books from the author ASAP.
December 7, 2015
3.5 stars
I received a copy of this book (titled as "Ghostwriter Anonymous") from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I didn't love this book, I liked it.
It was well written and intriguing, and I did not see the ending coming which is always a good thing.
I found Jake entertaining and was really loving all the attention she was getting.
Although the first half of the book had me ready to put down the book and not come back to it I don't like not finishing books so I ploughed on and ended up enjoying this read
I received a copy of this book (titled as "Ghostwriter Anonymous") from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I didn't love this book, I liked it.
It was well written and intriguing, and I did not see the ending coming which is always a good thing.
I found Jake entertaining and was really loving all the attention she was getting.
Although the first half of the book had me ready to put down the book and not come back to it I don't like not finishing books so I ploughed on and ended up enjoying this read
July 26, 2011
So so.
January 22, 2013
It was OK.
March 4, 2017
I'll be damned if I can remember what this book was actually about, what happened or how I felt about it. It mustn't have been that great if I can't remember. So I'll give it a 3.
December 13, 2014
A fun read.
Currently reading
November 18, 2015 * e-Arc provided by Netgalley as "GhostWriter Anonymous" *
Want to read
April 2, 2008I want to read this one
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews