Q.R. Markham: The Plagiarist of Secrets and another example of why writing is hard work

So has everyone heard about "Assassin of Secrets" by Q.R. Markham (real name: Quentin Rowan), which was recently published by Mulholland Books, an imprint of Little, Brown in New York, and which was then very quickly pulled from stores because it contains some of the most blatant acts of plagiarism anyone has seen in a long time?

If not, here's a New York Times article.

Here's the James Bond message board where readers first discovered the plagiarism.

Jeremy Duns, an author of spy fiction, was l...