The question that haunts Maclean’s readers is basically the one this new book tries to answer: Why did such a fine writer write so little and so late—as his son, John, a bestselling author, once put the matter.

On Mother’s Day, I caught my first five small trout on a dry to prepare Truite au bleu for my wife. The last time I attempted the dish I worked for Gordon McCrae on the M+ Ranch in Island Park, Idaho. The McCrae Ranch butted up against the more famous Trude Ranch in Shotgun Valley where Old Man Trude purportedly tied his famous fly. Somewhere I had heard—probably from my boss, Gordon, who wintered in Las Vegas— that Truite au Bleu should always be prepared with live fish