Joseph J. DiMona; Novelist, Ghostwriter

Joseph J. DiMona, a best-selling novelist and a ghostwriter of nonfiction for such well-known figures as President Richard Nixon’s aide H.R. “Bob” Haldeman and former Los Angeles County Coroner Thomas Noguchi, has died. He was 77.

DiMona died Saturday of liver cancer at his Los Angeles home, said his wife, Barbara.

DiMona was an eclectic writer whose best-known collaborations were on Haldeman’s “The Ends of Power” in 1978 and Noguchi’s “Coroner” and its sequel, “Coroner at Large,” in the mid-1980s.

Unlike most ghostwriters, DiMona’s name was known and he made money. He insisted on shared credit and 50-50 profits, and said that he made $500,000 on the Haldeman book.

Ghosting “The Ends of Power,” which was criticized for poor organization, was not as great a coup for DiMona as gaining Haldeman’s confidence to get the job done. A proven writer, DiMona was hired by the publisher to assist Haldeman, Nixon’s chief of staff, who served time in Lompoc federal prison for his involvement in Watergate. But Haldeman was reluctant to open up to the writer.

Then in 1977, DiMona’s novel “The Benedict Arnold Connection,” about nuclear terrorism, was published. Haldeman liked it, particularly for DiMona’s demonstration of political savvy.

Ironically, it may have been an earlier DiMona novel, “Last Man at Arlington,” about the John F. Kennedy assassination, that had initially soured Haldeman on his ghostwriter. The book’s heroine spoke fondly of the Kennedy years and added, “With Nixon as president, it makes you sick to say you are an American.”

Coupled with televised post-Watergate statements by Nixon, DiMona’s terrorism novel prompted Haldeman to talk volubly and share notes of Nixon conversations he had forgotten he had. DiMona’s job became much easier.

Never flustered by literary criticism of the Haldeman book, DiMona told one interviewer: “You don’t write anything for Haldeman. He changed my book right down to the end. He rewrote, revised, edited for five drafts. He’s very meticulous.”

A lawyer by training, DiMona enjoyed criminal trials--covering the Watergate trials of Atty. Gen. John Mitchell and Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans for New York magazine.

His novels focus on terror, suspense and intrigue, and he had some background in writing for show business. So it was not surprising that the writer and Noguchi, self-styled “coroner to the stars,” found each other.

The Noguchi books, knowledgeable critics felt, were mostly a rehash of public files about the county’s many celebrity deaths, including those of U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Janis Joplin, John Belushi, Natalie Wood and Sharon Tate. Nevertheless, the Noguchi books and spinoff contracts for serialization and foreign publication were successful.

A native of Camden, N.J., DiMona graduated from Duke University and George Washington University Law School and served as a Navy lieutenant in the Pacific during World War II. His jagged postwar career included radio color announcing for Washington Redskins football and Washington Senators baseball, a stint as a copy boy for the Washington Post and work as a scriptwriter for business, science and military documentary films. His documentary on geomagnetism won a prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Based in New York for most of his career, DiMona published his first book, a collection of short stories titled “Husbands Who Love Their Wives Are the Best,” in 1955.

His nonfiction books included “This Was Burlesque” with 1930s burlesque queen Ann Corio (which they turned into an off-Broadway revue), “The Great Court-Martial Cases,” with an introduction by former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh (D-Ind.), and the biography “Frank Costello: Prime Minister of the Underworld,” co-authored with George Wolf. Among DiMona’s novels were “70 Sutton Place” and “To the Eagle’s Nest.”

In addition to his wife, DiMona is survived by a son, Joseph of New York; a daughter, Darcy Mander of Rome; a brother, Anthony; and four grandchildren.

Memorial services are scheduled for Friday at 11 a.m. at the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park.

The family has asked that donations honoring DiMona be sent to the Motion Picture and Television Fund in Woodland Hills.