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Murder, He Wrote: A Successful Writer's Life
In Murder, He Wrote , Bain takes the reader on a rollercoaster journey from the rousing loops of Coffee, Tea or Me and the best selling comedy series it spawned to the gravity-defying biographies of Veronica Lake, legendary talk show king Long John Nebel, and top model and CIA mind-control subject Candy Jones; from the spectacular curves and twists of the wildly successful murder mystery novels based on the TV show "Murder, She Wrote" to the creaks and squeaks of one of the most bizarre gang wars in U.S. history, Charlie and the Shawneetown Dame.
- GenresNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 2006
3 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Donald Bain
151 books181 followersFrom Wikipedia: Donald Bain (1935-2017) was a United States author and ghostwriter.
Author Jack Pearl is his cousin and sometime co-author.
Known Pseudonyms:
Jessica Fletcher
Joan Wood
J.D. Hardin
Nick Vasile
Mike Lundy
Pamela South
Lee Jackson
Stephanie Blake
Marjorie Margolies
Kathy Cole
Donna Bain
Author Jack Pearl is his cousin and sometime co-author.
Known Pseudonyms:
Jessica Fletcher
Joan Wood
J.D. Hardin
Nick Vasile
Mike Lundy
Pamela South
Lee Jackson
Stephanie Blake
Marjorie Margolies
Kathy Cole
Donna Bain
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 30, 2012
Donald Bain is probably best known to mystery readers as the writer of the wildly popular Murder, She Wrote series based on the CBS series starting Angela Lansbury.
It was fascinating to read that he has done so much, met so many different people and written so many other things, most of them as either a "ghost" or with a pseudonym. The diversity is amazing, he's written biographies (or autobiographies as a ghost), liner notes for a jazz album, a book on caviar, a bartenders guide, westerns and, of course, mysteries.
I enjoyed getting a peek into his life and hope he keeps on writing because the world needs writers who are so good and yet so humble.
It was fascinating to read that he has done so much, met so many different people and written so many other things, most of them as either a "ghost" or with a pseudonym. The diversity is amazing, he's written biographies (or autobiographies as a ghost), liner notes for a jazz album, a book on caviar, a bartenders guide, westerns and, of course, mysteries.
I enjoyed getting a peek into his life and hope he keeps on writing because the world needs writers who are so good and yet so humble.
April 8, 2012
I decided to buy this book because I was a big fan of Donald's Murder She Wrote series under the name Jessica Fletcher and I wanted to get to know more about the man behind this series of books.
I was not disappointed , this man has led a very varied and interesing life, writing ,ghost writing and travelling extensively. I would have liked to know more about his writing of the Murder She Wrote series ,that was what I felt let the book down a bit. I would recommend it for a look into a writers life but not so much if you want to know about him writing his series as Jessica Fletcher.
I was not disappointed , this man has led a very varied and interesing life, writing ,ghost writing and travelling extensively. I would have liked to know more about his writing of the Murder She Wrote series ,that was what I felt let the book down a bit. I would recommend it for a look into a writers life but not so much if you want to know about him writing his series as Jessica Fletcher.
April 17, 2026
I met late author-ghostwriter Donald Bain years ago at a writers conference, and we chatted over lunch. Let me start on a positive note.
Bain came across as a warm, gracious, funny man, one who took pride in his career. As a writer myself, I am in awe of his prodigious output. And even his autobiography doesn't tell the entire story. He privately told me that he also was the ghostwriter of the Margaret Truman "Capitol Crimes" (Washington, DC settings) mystery series -- a fact he later publicly acknowledged in Publishers Weekly. According to what he told me at the time, Truman -- whom he generously claimed to Publishers Weekly had been his "close collaborator" -- actually never wrote or read a single word of the 27 or so "Truman" books he authored.
Like the pulp-fiction-era writers of decades gone by, Bain was an indefatigable professional, chained to his keyboard to crank out thousands upon thousands of words each week. His autobiography is charmingly self-effacing and engaging, packed with wonderful stories that illuminate the whole world of writing, editing, and publishing. On those grounds, I highly recommend this to anyone curious about that world -- and certainly to fellow authors.
Now, all that said: I still have important ethical problems with the field of ghostwriting, especially for fiction. Writing decent fiction is difficult, and for many of us, mastering the craft requires years of self-education and hard work. So, for those celebs whose names appear on the covers as putative novelists, it is the equivalent of the "stolen valor" sought by fake soldiers falsely claiming battlefield heroics. It's a deliberate fraud upon unwary readers by greedy, unscrupulous publishers and celebs, who exploit the celebs' fame and charisma to snare book purchases from their fans.
The ghostwriter becomes the hired enabler of these scams, helping inflate the undeserved literary reputation of the alleged "author." It's particularly repugnant that the same publishing industry that eagerly hires ghostwriters to serve as novel-writing crutches for celebrities, also simultaneously (and sanctimoniously) denounces the use of AI chatbots to serve as a writing crutches for authors. But what's the ethical difference? In both cases, phony literary reputations are being built upon parasitism and fakery in order to cheat the unsuspecting reading public.
Bain offers his own rationalizations for his career as an enabler of these masquerades. On the plus side, he put dedication, hard work, and talent into his writing; his readers certainly weren't cheated in that respect. But to the extent many bought the books he penned because of their admiration for or interest in their famous, titular "authors," they were being cheated. It's not as if Bain were editing and polishing the words of the celebs; he was inventing words they never said and creative ideas they never had.
Just like the "authors" who now rely upon AI.
So yes, by all means read Donald Bain's autobiography for its colorful portrait of the writer's life and the publishing and entertainment industries. You can enjoy the book and admire Bain for all the professionalism he brought to his work -- even if, like me, you don't always admire all the ends to which he directed his talents and efforts.
Bain came across as a warm, gracious, funny man, one who took pride in his career. As a writer myself, I am in awe of his prodigious output. And even his autobiography doesn't tell the entire story. He privately told me that he also was the ghostwriter of the Margaret Truman "Capitol Crimes" (Washington, DC settings) mystery series -- a fact he later publicly acknowledged in Publishers Weekly. According to what he told me at the time, Truman -- whom he generously claimed to Publishers Weekly had been his "close collaborator" -- actually never wrote or read a single word of the 27 or so "Truman" books he authored.
Like the pulp-fiction-era writers of decades gone by, Bain was an indefatigable professional, chained to his keyboard to crank out thousands upon thousands of words each week. His autobiography is charmingly self-effacing and engaging, packed with wonderful stories that illuminate the whole world of writing, editing, and publishing. On those grounds, I highly recommend this to anyone curious about that world -- and certainly to fellow authors.
Now, all that said: I still have important ethical problems with the field of ghostwriting, especially for fiction. Writing decent fiction is difficult, and for many of us, mastering the craft requires years of self-education and hard work. So, for those celebs whose names appear on the covers as putative novelists, it is the equivalent of the "stolen valor" sought by fake soldiers falsely claiming battlefield heroics. It's a deliberate fraud upon unwary readers by greedy, unscrupulous publishers and celebs, who exploit the celebs' fame and charisma to snare book purchases from their fans.
The ghostwriter becomes the hired enabler of these scams, helping inflate the undeserved literary reputation of the alleged "author." It's particularly repugnant that the same publishing industry that eagerly hires ghostwriters to serve as novel-writing crutches for celebrities, also simultaneously (and sanctimoniously) denounces the use of AI chatbots to serve as a writing crutches for authors. But what's the ethical difference? In both cases, phony literary reputations are being built upon parasitism and fakery in order to cheat the unsuspecting reading public.
Bain offers his own rationalizations for his career as an enabler of these masquerades. On the plus side, he put dedication, hard work, and talent into his writing; his readers certainly weren't cheated in that respect. But to the extent many bought the books he penned because of their admiration for or interest in their famous, titular "authors," they were being cheated. It's not as if Bain were editing and polishing the words of the celebs; he was inventing words they never said and creative ideas they never had.
Just like the "authors" who now rely upon AI.
So yes, by all means read Donald Bain's autobiography for its colorful portrait of the writer's life and the publishing and entertainment industries. You can enjoy the book and admire Bain for all the professionalism he brought to his work -- even if, like me, you don't always admire all the ends to which he directed his talents and efforts.
July 13, 2020
An interesting and insightful look into the life of a successful ghost-writer.
April 23, 2014
I’ve been reading the Murder, She Wrote series for a while, so I thought I’d read this. It’s an interesting account of the life of a ghostwriter.
June 1, 2014
A fun look at "ghost" writing, series writing and much more.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews