The author, most recently, of “The Gods of Guilt” would love to have met Raymond Chandler: “I’d say, Ray, can a writer be happy and still be good at it?” Or does it take a life of trouble?

Tell us about your favorite book of the year.

I think I’ll go with nonfiction and pick “Act of War: Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the Spy Ship Pueblo,” by Jack Cheevers. I worked with Cheevers in the early ’90s. He was a very good reporter then, and all those skills are on display in this page-turner, which jumps between high politics in Washington and the gripping high-seas journey of the spy ship in 1968. This book held me like “Flyboys” and “Lost in Shangri-La.”

When and where do you like to read?

I mostly read on airplanes and right before sleep. I admit my reading time is limited because I can write in the situations and places where people usually read. But reading is the fuel — it’s inspiring — so I try to keep the tank full. What happens most of the time is, I binge read. I will put aside a day or two to do nothing but read. I did that recently with Stephen King’s “Doctor Sleep.”

Of the books you’ve written, which is your favorite?

I know I am supposed to say “The Gods of Guilt” here, since I just wrote it, but my favorite will probably always be “The Last Coyote,” because it was the first book I wrote as a full-time author, and I think the improvements were more evident to me than in the transitions between other books. But don’t confuse “favorite” book with “best” book. I am not sure I could pick a book that I would say is my best. I hope I haven’t written it yet.