Simon: "I’ll say right up front that I haven’t read your books, but if this interview goes well, who knows?"

Todd: "You’ll buy a copy of each?"

Simon: "I saw a galley of TAHOE BLOWUP.  It looked good enough that my local bookstore will probably have it in stock when it comes out, but I thought I’d check out the library first."

Todd: "That hurts. How am I going to make my airplane payment?"

Simon: "You have an airplane? What kind?"

Todd: "I don’t. Yet. I’m making plans."

Simon: "So what qualifies you to write about a private eye who comes from a long line of Irish and Scottish cops?

Todd: "Nothing. I’ve seen pictures of Ireland and I’ve met a few cops over the years. Does that count?"

Simon: Your P.I. Owen McKenna is a six foot, six inch art lover who seems to be – stay with me here, I’m reading between the lines on the marketing copy – a smart tough guy and may even be a babe magnet. Is he anything like you?"

Todd: "You’re kidding, right? Didn't my publicist send you my picture? Owen has six inches on me, he’s strong as a backhoe, has a head of hair that won’t quit, sky-blue eyes…"

Simon: "Oh, you’re right.  Your photo is right here in my packet.  So Owen has a giant dog, a Great Dane named Spot. Isn’t that the name of the dog in the first grade reader? ‘Run, Spot, run?’ What gives?"

Todd: "I loved that first grade reader. A writer has to steal from wherever he can. Anyway, Spot is a Harlequin Dane. Lots of spots."

Simon: "This dog weighs one hundred and seventy pounds. Are Great Danes really that big?"

Todd: "One-seventy is pretty normal for a male Dane. The record is something like two hundred twenty-five pounds."

Simon: "And Spot helps solve the mysteries?"

Todd: "No. But when Owen solves them Spot is usually there and does his dog thing at just the right moment."

Simon: "You mean like, ‘my, what big teeth you have?’"

Todd: "Yeah. Something like that."

Simon: "So Owen’s girlfriend Street Casey is a forensic entomologist. Is that for real?"

Todd: "Absolutely. Forensic entomology is a growing field. Insects can reveal a lot about a body."

Simon: "Such as?"

Todd: "For example, Street studies the growth of maggots in corpses to determine how long it has been since the time of death. She takes samples of live maggots from the body and…"

Simon:  "Remember, children could be reading this interview."

Todd: "You're right. We better let people read it in the book."

Simon: "What kind of name is Street?

Todd: "Her parents didn’t make it to the hospital. She was named for where she was born."

Simon: "Back to Owen. This whole art thing has me worried. Your books aren’t a bunch of Ivy League Bluebloods sitting around sipping sherry and name- dropping art museums, are they?"

Todd: "What’s an Ivy League Blueblood?"

Simon: "Okay. But you have been to art museums?"

Todd: "A couple. I like their restaurants."

Simon: "Flipping through here I can see names of some heavy- hitter artists. I’m getting more worried."

Todd: "Is that before or after the gunfight in the insane asylum and the airplane chase?"

Simon: "Now I feel better. Owen uses what he sees in paintings to help him solve the mystery. I still think it sounds like you spent too much time in graduate school."

Todd: "I barely made it out of high school. I used to mow lawns for a living."

Simon: "Maybe I’ll buy these books after all."