Robert Crais

Robert Crais is an American crime novelist who began his writing career in television, scripting episodes for shows including Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, and Cagney & Lacey, before moving to novels with The Monkey's Raincoat in 1987. That book introduced Elvis Cole, a wisecracking Los Angeles private investigator, and his taciturn, dangerous partner Joe Pike, a former Marine and mercenary, launching a series that has run for more than twenty novels. Crais gradually shifted the series' center of gravity toward Pike in later books, giving the quieter, more enigmatic character his own standalone entries such as The Watchman, a structural evolution fans and critics have both noted as unusual for a long-running detective series. His screenwriting background shows in tight plotting and vivid, cinematic action sequences, and he has also written standalone thrillers including Suspect, which unusually centers on a K-9 police dog. New readers should start with The Monkey's Raincoat to meet Cole and Pike from the beginning. None of the Elvis Cole novels have been adapted for film or television to date, despite frequent industry interest. Crais continues to publish new entries in the series and remains one of the genre's most consistently acclaimed authors, with multiple Shamus and Anthony Award nominations and wins to his name.