Walter Mosley is the author of more than 30 books in a broad variety of genres, but he's best known for his detective fiction. His Easy Rawlins series began with 1989's best-selling Devil in a Blue Dress. His latest series features a new hero, the pugnacious, middle-aged Leonid McGill. He just released the second novel featuring McGill, Known to Evil.

Before he was a novelist, Mosley was a computer programmer. Originally born in Los Angeles, Mosley spent time in the Bay Area before moving to New York City, where the McGill novels are set.

Jim Lehrer has anchored The Newshour on PBS for 35 years. He's also written 20 novels, the most recent of which is a charming mystery called Super. Lehrer talks with us about growing up in Kansas, his love of buses and trains, and the role of television journalism, and particularly public television journalism, in the 21st century. Super takes place on The Super Chief, one of the last American luxury trains. The Super Chief passed through Kansas, where Lehrer grew up; as a young man, Lehrer worked in a bus depot owned by the same company as the legendary train.