Douglas Preston (pictured, left) and Lincoln Child —who have written 28 books together, including this week’s No. 2 novel, “Old Bones” — talked to us about how they write.

TINA JORDAN Tell me how you met. I hear it’s a great story.

DOUGLAS PRESTON In my first job out of college, I worked at the American Museum in New York, where I wrote a column for Natural History magazine on the museum. Linc had been reading it and he called me up. He identified himself as an editor at St. Martin’s and asked if I’d care to discuss a book about the museum over lunch at the Russian Tea Room. I was terribly impressed and rushed to Goodwill to get myself a jacket so I could get into the restaurant. When I arrived, instead of the distinguished editor I expected to find, here was this kid younger than I was. That book became “Dinosaurs in the Attic.”

LINCOLN CHILD In that meeting we learned, among other things, that we shared a love for blinis au caviar. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

JORDAN How did your first book come about?

PRESTON After “Dinosaurs in the Attic” was published, I gave Linc an evening tour of the museum. We ended up in the Hall of Late Dinosaurs, the great black skeletons looming over our heads, casting crazy shadows. He turned to me and said, “This is the scariest damn building in New York City. We’ve got to write a thriller set in a museum like this.” And that became “Relic,” our first Preston & Child novel.