B&A, have you ever come across an author you suspected did not write all of

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Desiderata

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the books under his/her name? I asked this question earlier but only received three answers (I was hoping for more).

V.C. Andrews is an example; a ghost writer was used following her death. I heard someone say they don't believe Nora Roberts wrote her In Death series (under the name of J.D. Robb) because the style was so different. This isn't to say that this is my opinion, as I am unfamiliar with this author. I have never thought this of any author and was wondering if anyone has.

Have you ever read several books by the same author, and you suspected that some of them might have been written by someone else?
No where in my question do I say that ghost writing is a crime.
To Book Authors/Talk On The Mood, this is not a question of different writing styles. If you read multiple books by the same author, and someone else suddenly takes over, there will be a distinct difference unless that person is very good at matching the other author's style, character dialogue, descriptions, etc.
I'm not the one thumbing people down. This might be another system glitch...They keep appearing and disappearing.
The Fearless series is freakishly long...I haven't read any book in that series, and it wouldn't surprise me if several people made some contributions.

reader, someone on the previous question also pointed out James Patterson. He always seems to have a new book coming out...

TayTay, I heard something about Shakespeare (a long time ago), but I won't claim any knowledge on that subject or the part about Homer.
 
A ya series I read a while back, called Fearless by Francine Pascal, was definitely written by multiple ghost writers. The continuity errors were abundant, especially with silly little things that any author should be able to keep consistent about their main character.

Many of those authors with hundreds of books to their names have used ghost writers, as well as many celebrities.
 
No, it hasn't happened to me personally, probably because most of my reading is done at least a little way outside of the mainstream.

I used to work for a book distributor though, and I do remember some hot arguments about certain popular and prolific authors. Some of the points made seemed very valid and quite possible when dealing with people who already had massive success and, most likely, a fair amount of money.

I do remember the Roberts/Robb debate. I can't speak directly to that one beyond saying that because of the discussion I read a book from each. I thought that the writing, while different in style and tone, was equally putrid so I could not take a side.

Robert Ludlum's books have been written by others for some time but, like Andrews, that's no secret. James Patterson shamelessly farms out his work, skank that he is. I know for a fact that if someone else wrote a book in John Sandford's Prey or Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series I would know immediately. I would also place large sums of money on that never happening. The only time it would happen is in the very bottom of the mass market barrel.
 
I've heard the same about Shakespeare and Homer, that their works were written by others (Edit - well, for Homer, it would be more that his works were created by others, because I'm pretty sure that The Iliad & The Odyssey were both written down many years after the stories originated). Other than that, though, I can't say that I've come across anything else like that.... unless the Nancy Drew series counts. I loved those books when I was younger, and I know they were written by several authors, all under the name of Carolyn Keene. While you can see some subtle differences or errors in continuity through the series, for the most part, the books flow together well. I don't think the slight changes from book to book would be noticed by the series' intended audience of young girls, though. =)
 
I've heard the same about Shakespeare and Homer, that their works were written by others (Edit - well, for Homer, it would be more that his works were created by others, because I'm pretty sure that The Iliad & The Odyssey were both written down many years after the stories originated). Other than that, though, I can't say that I've come across anything else like that.... unless the Nancy Drew series counts. I loved those books when I was younger, and I know they were written by several authors, all under the name of Carolyn Keene. While you can see some subtle differences or errors in continuity through the series, for the most part, the books flow together well. I don't think the slight changes from book to book would be noticed by the series' intended audience of young girls, though. =)
 
I can't say that I have however, I have always heard that Shakespeare's writing could not have been writing solely by one man alone. At first I found this absurd and have always admired his works with utter disbelief in his artistic style. It does seem likely though...his plays were written so long ago and each one is written so masterfully. Perhaps that is even why people would suspect that Homer was never even alive and that he couldn't possibly have written both epic poems of The Iliad and The Odyssey, it was simply so long ago. I still read and admire them both, despite these mysteries.
 
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