My guest today on Writers at Work is Dennis Lehane, an exceptional novelist and screenwriter whose body of work reveals the tender heart of his characters as they yearn, even as the world explodes around them.

His novels and short fiction and the films adapted from them, MYSTIC RIVER, SHUTTER ISLAND, GONE, BABY GONE, and THE DROP among them, are now part of the American cultural and artistic landscape. In addition, he's written for, consulted on, or was involved in the production of episodes of such programs as THE WIRE, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, MR. MERCEDES, and now SMOKE, premiering on June 27 on Apple TV+. That, my friends, is as fine a resume as you'll find for a writer in our time.

Before we proceed, I should tell you that Dennis and I shared an agent, and he invited me to contribute to his short story anthology, BOSTON NOIR. But my admiration for his work is unencumbered by anything other than my admiration for his work.