The Racketeer  was one of Amazon's mystery/thriller Best Books of the Month picks for October. A Q & A with the author: Describe The Racketeer in one sentence.  A federal judge is murdered, and our hero in prison knows who did it, and why. What's on your nightstand/bedside table/Kindle? Ian McEwan’s latest novel, Sweet Tooth; a friend’s manuscript; and a Kindle Fire loaded with daily newspapers, magazines, and about three dozen books. Top 3-5 favorite books of all time? The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; A Confederacy of Dunces; The Grapes of Wrath; Little Drummer Girl Important book you never read? There are so many. Atlas Shrugged, though I’ve been told for the past 30 years that it’s unreadable. Book that made you want to become a writer? To Kill a Mockingbird made me question race for the first time in my young, insulated, white life. I