Quentin Rowan, writing under the pen name QR Markham, had a book deal for a series of spy novels. The first installment, Assassin of Secrets, was favorably reviewed until it was discovered that mulitple passages in the book were blatantly plagiarized. Rowan explained himself to author Jeremy Duns, who had blurbed the book:
[T]he more I did it, the deeper into denial I went, until it felt as if I had two brains at war with each other. Half of my time this past year was spent in a strange internal argument: Yes I can, no I can't. They'll figure it out! No they won't!
It became like a strange schizophrenic form of gambling, and for some reason – viewing myself as a failed 'literary' writer – I saw this book as my "last shot." So even though what was left of my rational mind understood I would probably be found out, I still thought I had to bet it all on this one horse.'
In trying to understand Rowan's actions, Macy Halford quoted William Dean Howells' 1902 essay “The Psychology of Plagiarism":
You cannot escape discovery. The world is full of idle people reading books, and they are only too glad to act as detectives; they please their miserable vanity by showing their alertness, and are proud to hear witness against you in the court of parallel columns.
The Dish 