Donald Sutherland Bain (March 6, 1935 – October 21, 2017) was an American author and ghostwriter, having written over 115 books in his 40-year career.

Early life and education

Bain was a native of Mineola, New York and graduated from Purdue University in 1957 where he studied speech and drama. While there, he earned his pilot's license through the Air Force ROTC.

The Coffee, Tea or Me? series

byline: Trudy Baker and Rachel Jones

The Murder, She Wrote series

byline: Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain A spin-off book series based on the Murder, She Wrote American crime drama television series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher.

Comedic novels

The J.D. Hardin western series

byline: J.D. Hardin

Other novels

Biographies and autobiographies

Other books

Unacknowledged books

A ghostwriter is often required to be anonymous as a part of the contract to write the book. Some sources claim Bain is the author of most of the mystery novels attributed to Margaret Truman. While Bain initially denied this, he wrote a column in the March 14, 2014 issue of Publishers Weekly and finally acknowledged writing "27 novels in the Margaret Truman Capital Crimes series (mostly bylined by Truman, my close collaborator – my name is on only the most recent entries, released after her death)."

Personal life

Bain died of congestive heart failure on October 21, 2017, in White Plains, New York at the age of 82.