Last month at Babbling Books in Ontario, I was at the counter buying a John D. MacDonald paperback when an older fellow with a stack of books asked the clerk, “Who wrote the Dirk Pitt series?” She’d have come up with the answer, but since she was fumbling for it, I answered: “Clive Cussler.”

The man said he used to own them all but no longer did. He sped off and added a couple to his stack.

The only reason I knew the answer was that I’d read some of the news coverage of the “Sahara” movie lawsuit. Some of it involved the studio, which took a bath on the movie, saying Cussler overstated the sales of his suspense novels. I’ve never read one and doubt I ever will, but that’s how I learned of his Dirk Pitt character.

Last week, when I pulled into the parking lot of the CVS center in La Verne to eat at Red Devil Pizza, I noticed the sign for Book Rack on my immediate left. I checked them out; it was one of two used bookstores mentioned in my recent column that I’d never visited.

Nice little store. They also have some new books. Nothing cried out to me, but I would go back.

Odd thing was, a couple of older fellas were looking for books, and one said to the other, “Clive Cussler’s a good writer.” His friend agreed.

I don’t think the younger generation is hep to Clive Cussler, but to white-haired males, he must be the cat’s pajamas.