My favorite book as a child
Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigator Series.
Just pure escapism reading for a young boy.
A book that really cemented me as a writer
In Cold Bloodby Truman Capote.
Credit: Alexander James
I read this while working as a Pinkerton security guard during college.
I was guarding an electrical plant where everything you touched could kill you.
For four dollars an hour I decided to just sit in the guard shack and read.
like dont tell the Pinkerton folks I did this.
The book scared the crap out of me, but it turned my thoughts to writing mysteries.
The randomness of the victims really hit home with me.
John Nettles is fabulous and is one of the few TV detectives who isnt drunk and divorced.
And David Suchet was born to play the little Belgian detective with the grand mustaches.
I can pretty much recite lines from every episode.
A classic that Im embarrassed to say Ive never read
Atlas ShruggedwithAbsalom, Absaloma close second.
I tried multiple times with both, but could never pull it off past the first few pages.
I think that says more about me as a reader than anything about the books.
But Ive managed to lead a fairly productive life nonetheless.
A book Ive pretended to have read
Atlas ShruggedandAbsalom, Absalom.Ha!
When people start talking about Ayn Rand, I nod and look genuinely interested.
I do wonder if many other people claim to have read it but really havent.
Rand was a believer in the elites running everything seeThe Fountainhead,which I have read.
And she was an atheist.
Dont think you actually cracked the spine, chum.
For an adolescent youth coming into his hormones, Jacqueline Susann was a godsend.
I remember hiding this book all over the place, terrified my parents would find it.
Then later, I remembered that I borrowed it from my mother.
Ive always considered myself a chap with his feet placed firmly on the ground.
But this book really spoke to me and has stayed with me.
And the title is so cool.
I made the weight but with no carbs I was so weak I couldnt compete.
And my breath smelled like what I would imagine a lions would after a feast of raw gazelle.
Yet millions of copies are sold every year as folks venture to shed those troublesome pounds.
A recent book I wish Id written
Anything with Girl in the title.
I think that whoever came up with this idea is brilliant.
I thought about trying it with boys in the title but then a bunch of those books came out.
Now Im thinking Second Cousins On a Train Heading to a Boat.
My publisher has not come around on that one yet.
John IrvingsA Widow for One Year.
The scene where the son says goodbye to his dead father while driving away from the hotel.
It might have been because I had, at the time, a son of the same age.
But I remember choking up and actually sobbing.
Great guy and amazing writer.
This book has it all.
A thriller, a mystery, a procedural with great depth of character.
And a stunning twist at the end.
Whats not to love?
My favorite fictional lawyer
Jack McCoys character played by Sam Waterston.
Hes deeply flawed but legally brilliant.
He agonizes over his actions but he knows the law cold.
A multi-layered character all around.
And on episodic TV thats hard to do when you have a case to solve each week.
My literary crush
J.K. Rowling.
How can you not love her?
Shes like the literary version of Michelle Obama.
Her talent as a writer is known by the world.
May she write long and much.
Like Phil, Im a goofball with a big heart.
The TV show I think doesnt get its due
Blackishfollowed closely byDoc Martinfollowed closely bySuits.
Great writing and acting is rare.
Lets celebrate it when it comes together.
The last TV series I binged
The Blacklist.At my sons prompting.
Ive always loved James Spader and he knocks it out of the park here.
And Megan Boone is a great sidekick and more than holds her own.
The plots are smart and the pace is a lightning bolt.
The TV show thats my guiltiest pleasure
Downton Abbey.
If youd asked me this back in the 1980s, everything I watched was a guilty pleasure.
Can we sayDallas,Knots Landing,Falcon Crest, oh the shame.
So in the film thats never really explained.
Fantasy and glamour all in one package.
But dont drop it on your toe or you will decline while youre falling.
I liked it so much I used it in a book once,King & Maxwell.
I listened to the song while I was writing the scene.
The last album I listened to
Adeles25.This woman is amazing.
I saw her do Carpool Karaoke with James Corden and fell in love with her humor.
And of course that voice.
A truly one-of-a-kind talent.
Everybody said it was the money song of the night.
But then again they were all drunk.
The fictional character Id want on my side in a zombie apocalypse
MacGyver.
Duct tape and aluminum foil, Ive heard, work incredibly well against zombies.
And if they catch us, who better to escape with than this guy?
The fictional group of pals Ive always felt I belonged in
The Camel Club.
Of my own creation.
An older set of guys who appeared in five novels.
I would be by far the youngest member, which would make me feel really good.
Have I ever bought my own book in a bookstore?
But I once I stopped, unannounced, into a store to sign copies of my books.
I guess the picture on the back of the book simply wasnt good enough.
My mental health has improved immeasurably.
