Tom Turcich: Old Fashioned (bitters, sugar, whiskey with cherry and orange rind garnish)

Tom walked 28,000 miles around the world with his dog and a converted stroller filled with supplies, then wrote a book that records his adventures and reflections. In terrific travel-writing style he reveals his encounter with a pervert before he managed even to walk outside the USA, his strange difficulty at the border with Mexico (going south), his experience with COVID on the Caspian Sea, his favorite moment of the entire seven-year walk, and his surprising revelation about the desirability of travel for a good life.

Linda discusses founding the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan DA’s office - first in the nation - and when Mariska Hargitay and Dick Wolf shadowed her to help develop the concept for the new show Law & Order: SVU, recounts writing her first novels while still working more than full time as a prosecutor, her writing process for her bestselling Alex Cooper novels, addresses the responsibility of filmmakers of the growing number of docu-series that are often fictionalized for dramatic effect and the mounting number of lawsuits against Netflix, her all-star dinner group of top mystery writers (including Nelson DeMille, Lee Child, Harlan Coben and Mary Higgins Clark), and Linda and I make a toast to the memory of the great Nelson DeMille.

Jay McInerney: Cristal

Jay discusses cocaine and a proposition from Truman Capote (spoiler alert: he escaped), his pioneering use of the 2nd-person in BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, his best moment ever with a glass of wine, the perfect 3-course meal with wine pairing, what Raymond Carver taught him about writing, getting fired from The New Yorker, squatting in George Plimpton’s house, waking up in December 2023 with his home covered in his own blood and remembering nothing.