Wendy Walker: Greyhound (1 1/2 ounces vodka, 2 1/2 ounce grapefruit juice)

Wendy shares the meticulous approach she took to becoming a bestselling author that began with learning what kind of fiction works for the market, describes what she likes about James Patterson's "winning structural formula", describes her early careers as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs and then as a corporate attorney, tells how motherhood brought her out of the workforce then returned her to a career as a novelist, lists the greatest plot twist ever, and reveals the strangest question she's ever gotten at a book event.

Alafair Burke: Vesper Martini (2 ounces gin, 3/4 ounce vodka, 1/2 ounce Lillet Blanc)

Alafair reveals the haunting impressions of growing up in Kansas during the active period of the BTK serial killer and how that time influenced her path to practicing law and writing crime novels, how she applies her experience as a DA to the pages of her crime thrillers, the differences between writing the novel and writing for film and TV, how she might pick the perfect writers' room, how her very successful novelist father feels about her very successful novelist career (and which movie stars her father resembles), and offers a great piece of advice at the end of the show (and at the end of the martini).

Spencer Klavan: scotch

Spencer discusses the brimming culture of intolerance during his years at Yale, art and morality, the inherently required translation in all communication as concepts move from the soul to the page, the varied interplay between science and religion through the millennia, the different types of scotch, makes some amazing book recommendations and chooses a favorite between C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.