Donald Bain, Jessica Fletcher’s longtime collaborator,
is the author or ghost/author of more than 80 books, many
of them bestsellers. Among his books, the airline comedy,
Coffee Tea or Me?, published almost 30 years ago, together
with its sequels sold more than 5-million copies worldwide
and was the basis of a television movie-of-the-week.
Bain is a graduate of Purdue University and received its
highest award for his work in educational radio and
television. (He was designated a Purdue “Distinguished
Alumni” for 2003.) He went on to work professionally in
broadcasting in Texas and Indiana, and co-hosted more than
200 shows in New York with Long John Nebel, then king of
late-night talk-radio.
A public relations executive for McCann-Erickson and
American Airlines, Bain also was a consultant to Pan Am for
the introduction of the 747, the takeover of National
Airlines, and a national campaign to promote air travel.
Two of these projects earned Silver Anvil awards from the
Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). In 1985, with
his wife, he co-founded Hyphenates, Ltd., which has
provided editorial services to a wide variety of
companies.
Bain has worked for over 30 years as a professional jazz
musician, has taught at the college level and has written
myriad magazine articles. He is a member of Sigma Delta
Chi, the Writer’s Guild of America, the Authors Guild, the
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the
Mystery Writers of America.
Don Bain is married to Renée Paley-Bain, also a writer,
and who collaborates with him on the “Murder, She Wrote”
series. He has two grown daughters and four grandsons.