Pseudonym the attempt was not entirely successful – and the two are still sometimes confused by booksellers. A pen name may be used specifically to hide the identity of the author, as in the case of exposé books about espionage or crime, or explicit erotic fiction. Some prolific authors adopt a pseudonym to disguise the extent of their published output, e.g. Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman. Co-authors may choose to publish under a collective pseudonym, e.g., P. J. Tracy and Perri O'Shaughnessy. Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee used the name Ellery Queen as both a pen name for their collaborative
James Thompson (crime writer) James Thompson (crime writer) James Thompson (16 October 1964 – 2 August 2014) was an American-Finnish crime writer based in Helsinki. He had a master's degree in English philology from The University of Helsinki, where he also studied Finnish, in which he was fluent. He studied six languages. He published four crime novels with the Finnish inspector Kari Vaara as the protagonist. "Helsinki Noir" will be published by Akashic Books November 2014. It is an anthology edited by Thompson and it includes one story he wrote. Thompson died unexpectedly in his home town of Lahti, Finland in August 2014. Kari