Robert Crais Books in Order

Robert Crais is a critically acclaimed author of the best-selling Elvis Cole novels. As a native of Louisiana, he draws from his blue-collar upbringing on the banks of the Mississippi River, where his family worked in oil refineries and law enforcement. At fifteen, a secondhand copy of Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister ignited his passion for crime fiction, Los Angeles, and literature. Influenced by Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Robert B. Parker, and John Steinbeck, Crais developed a unique voice. After years of writing short fiction and amateur filmmaking, he transitioned to Hollywood in 1976, penning scripts for hits like Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, and Miami Vice. His Emmy-nominated work on Hill Street Blues, as well as the acclaimed miniseries Cross of Fire, cemented his reputation as a talented writer. In the mid-eighties, Crais traded Hollywood for a novel-writing career, pouring his experiences into the Elvis Cole series.