'Collaborating with the readers'

 

“I love the fact that you collaborate with your readers when you write a book.” – Robert Crais

Born in Louisiana on this date in 1953, Crais is one of America’s bestselling authors of crime fiction, but he didn’t start to create novels in the genre until long after he already had made a name for himself as the writer of scripts for television shows.   After graduating from LSU, he moved to Hollywood and jumped right into writing for shows like Hill Street Blues and Cagney and Lacey. 

But in the late 1980s he tested the waters with his first novel, The Monkey’s Raincoat, an instant hit with readers and critics alike – earning everything from “best first novel” to “best mystery.”  Since then, he’s had 23 novels, all worldwide bestsellers.   He has received the Ross Macdonald Literary Award (for crime fiction) and been named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.                 

“My books come to me in images,” he said.  “Sometimes the image is at the beginning of the book, and sometimes it's simply a flash somewhere in the middle.”  His stories are built around his two memorable main characters – Elvis Cole and Joe Pike.

Perhaps his best-known novel, also made into a movie, is Hostage, cited for the great character development throughout.   “I write characters and stories that move me,” he said, “and I write from the heart.”