Crime, Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

A posting on the Lineup blog by thriller author Andrew Neiderman. He wrote The Devil's Advocate and his new/latest book is The Terrorist's Holiday. He also ghost wrote Flowers in the Attic series. (I didn't know that!)

http://www.the-line-up.com/murderousl...

He didn't ghost write the 'Flowers in the Attic' series, he took over for V.C. Andrews - all her work - after she died.

I think it counted as ghost writing since all the books had her name on them and he got NO credit on the cover. In fact, I'd read the entire series and didn't find out she was dead until YEARS later.

No, all I'm saying is that the first series she wrote on her own, I think at LEAST through the third one, 'Seeds of Yesterday', or maybe through the prequel about the grandmother (my favorite), 'Garden of Shadows', as well. Then she died unexpectedly (though she'd been ill and confined to a wheelchair for some time), so technically, he didn't ghost-write THAT particular series, is all I meant - she wrote them herself.

Yes, but what about all the other books? Does it count if you don't get your name on the cover?

According to Wikipedia, he ghost wrote every book written after 1986, and finished some books she started.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._C._An...

Yep, that sounds right (although Wikipedia isn't exactly always 100%, it's only as good as those who post to it) - I read all the 'Attic' series when they originally came out, and 'Garden of Shadows' came out the year she died, so I think that was the last one she wrote. She had started other series by then, and had some partially-finished manuscripts (this was all pretty much in the news at the time she died, and I think the 'Dawn' series had its first novel out or about out, by then), and Neiderman was picked to take over and finish the novels she'd started ... and they were still such bestsellers, I'm assuming, that he just kept going. Oh heck yeah it counts if your name is on the cover, he's the one writing for her, I was just saying he didn't do anything on the original 'Attic' series as she wrote those herself before her death. I loved those books, and still vividly remember it breaking out all over in the media when she passed, because they were SO hugely popular - and extremely controversial - for that time!

I loved the Flowers in the Attic series, but I didn't read any of the others except for the 'Audrina' book.

I haven't read any others, either; have an issue, probably from being a writer, with others who "take over" from a writer who has died. It just seems wrong to me, very wrong; as if the publisher and the author's family isn't acknowledging what the writer created - that world, those characters - wasn't that special in the first place, if another writer can come along and "copy" their style and take over their characters.

Any thoughts on the upcoming novel in Stieg Larsson's Millennium series? It doesn't bear his name but I understand that the characters will be the same.

Same thing; just my opinion, but to me its tantamount to sacrilege, and really demeans the original writer (again, basically saying they weren't that good at what they did, if someone else can "copy" it) to continue work under their name after they've died. As writers, our characters are like our children - our family. We created them, know them inside and out, and how DARE anyone else take them over, purport to know how they'd speak, act, and react in any situation?

The most vile example: Agatha Christie. STILL outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare, does her family and publisher NEED any more money? NO. Did she NOT writer 'Curtain' something like 70 years ago, Poirot's "final case", for the very reason so that no one could write more Poirot stories after her death? YES. And did a NEW Poirot novel come out in 2014? YES - and another is being written because people who call themselves fans actually bought this smack in the face to Christie and her talent. So again, just my opnion, but to me it's a disgusting practice and I don't know how someone who purports to be a fan can put their money or time into it.

Taylor wrote: "Any thoughts on the upcoming novel in Stieg Larsson's Millennium series? It doesn't bear his name but I understand that the characters will be the same."

He did have a 4th book. But the family was fighting his longtime partner for the rights.

From what I understand, the estate commissioned this author to write the book but it's completely independent of any notes Larsson had for his fourth novel.

I used to read his horror line as a teenager, he wrote some good stuff, some cheesy and terrible. I do recommend