Donald Bain Books In Order

Publication Order of Capital Crimes Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Standalone Plays

Publication Order of Murder, She Wrote Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Donald Bain is a U.S born ghostwriter and author of many reputed books and novels. He was born in the year 1935 and has written over 115 books in his career spanning over 40 years. Many of his writings have been bestsellers in a number of publishing lists. Most of his writings are based in the mystery and thriller genres involving murder mysteries. Over the years, Donald has effectively used s number of pseudonyms for writing different novel series’. Other than murder mysteries, he has also written in the subjects of the western world, business, fun comedies, historical and psychological drama and investigative journalism. One of the murder series written by him, ‘Murder, He Wrote’ also serves as his autobiography. Donald began his career as a writer and director for the Peckham Productions, where he made short films for various clients such as American Airlines, IBM, USIA, Avon, Union Carbide and Pan Am. He even wrote and self-produced a couple of daily series in the name of ‘Jackie Douglas Reports’ and ‘Around The House’. Apart from this, Donald also wrote ‘House Call’, a nationally acclaimed health series and even hosted the series ‘The Media Watch’. As a public relations executive, Donald led a national campaign for promoting air travel for his clients American Airlines and McCann-Erikson. He was working as a consultant for the Pan Am when the 747 was introduced for the first time. A couple of these projects made him earn the Silver Anvil Awards by the PRSA, the Public Relations Society of America.

Later, Donald went on to establish the Hyphennates, Ltd., in the year 1985 along with his wife. This company used to provide editorial services to a number of companies all over America. Before, starting his career as a writer-producer, Donald graduated from the Purdue University in America with a the highest award for his exceptional work in the field of television and educational radio. He was even designated as the ‘Distinguished Alumni’ of Purdue University in the year 2003. Later, he began working as a professional broadcaster in Texas and Indiana and went on to host more than 200 television shows along with Long John Nebel, in New York. In the later years, Donald wrote a biography on the life of Long John Nebel depicting his experiences of working with him. He also wrote a book about his wife, famous model Candy Jones, showcasing her experiences of working with the CIA. Along with his writing work, Donald continued cherishing his hobby of plating Jazz music. He has also worked as a professional jazz musician, specifically playing drums and vibraphone, for more than 50 years. He was even involved in teaching at the college level and writing myriad magazine articles on diverse topics such as music, fly fishing and travel. He was a jazz critic and columnist for the Boulevard Magazine.

Donald Bain has been an active member of a number of associations, including the Writer’s Guild of America, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Sigma Delta Chi, the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, the Private Eye Writers of America and the Authors Guild. The IAMTW, International Association of Media Tie-In Writers designated him as the ‘Grand Master’ in the year 2006. Donald Bain is married to Renee Paley-Bain, who is also a writer by profession and has collaborated with him on his famous mystery series, ‘Murder She Wrote’. He has two daughters, Pamela and Laurie, who work as a professor and writer respectively, and four grandsons. The ‘Murder, She Wrote’ series of Donald Bain is a vast series comprising of over 40 novels published from 1989 to 2015. He has also worked with the bestselling author, Margaret Truman on her bestselling thriller series Capital Crimes, for many years. He continues to work on the series even today, after her death. The books written by him 40 years ago on the airline comedies were able to sell more than five million copies at that time. Such was his popularity in those days. Many of his books have also served as the basis of a number of television series and movies.

The famous ‘Murder, She Wrote’ series of novels were written by Donald Bain about 15 years ago based on the popular television series with the same name, he was working on as a writer and producer. Ever since he started writing the series, he has made sure to publish at least two books a year. The publishing house, Signet Books compelled him to write the series in a joyful manner and published it with more efficient editing. The series involves the characters Jessica Fletcher. The characters are very well depicted throughout the series as lovers who get separated multiple times. It is set in a number of places such as London, Manhattan, New Orleans, San Francisco, Scotland, Las Vegas, etc. Donald and his wife Renee have themselves traveled to these places to write the novels on real life locations. The readers have enjoyed reading the series as well as the television show. Donald has stated that he was inspired by the voice of actress Angela Lansburry for writing the dialogues of the character Jessica Fletcher. The first novel of the series was published under the title ‘Gin & Daggers’ in the year 1989. The novel was reissued in the year 2000 by Signet Books. The plot of the novel is set in London, United Kingdom and depicts the life of Jessica Fletcher. She is shown as moving to London in order to address a keynote at a mystery writers gathering. She is also interested in meeting with her mentor, Marjorie Ainsworth. Marjorie is depicted as a noted mystery writer. She has hosted a party on her estate to celebrate the success of one of her novels, where Jessica is also invited. However, the joyful scene turns into a murderous plot when Marjorie is murdered in her bedroom. Jessica discovers her stabbed dead body and falls in the list of suspects for the murder of Marjorie. The novel shows interesting twists and turns with desperate attempts of Jessica in trying to clear her name form the crime.

The second novel of the series was published under the title ‘Manhattan & Murder’ in the year 1990. Later, Signet Books reissued it in the year 1994. The plot of the novel begins with Waldo Morse dressed as a Santa staring at Jessica with fear and remembrance. Waldo is a former drug dealer and one of the most notorious citizens of Cabot Cove, Maine. Filled with several doubts about his appearance as Santa Nick, Jessica agrees to meet him the next day. However, he gets murdered mysteriously before she could meet him. It appeared as his wife was the killer and that she was quite quick in her motives as opposed to the slow investigation of the police. Jessica decides to take the matters in her own hand and snoop out strategically to stop the murderer from committing more murders. The novel turned out to be a huge success because of its interesting plot full of suspenseful drama and excellent character descriptions. The success helped Donald to sell millions of copies worldwide and establish himself as a recognized author of the mystery genre.

One Response to “Donald Bain”

1. Virginia Garrett: 6 months ago

   I love all Donald Bain’s writings. He is a marvelous writer.

   Reply