Robert Crais is best known for his best selling Elvis Cole novels. He was born in Baton Rouge, Lousisiana in 1954 and grew up on the the Mississippi River. He is the product of a family of oil refinery workers and police officers and was trained as a Mechanical Engineer prior to becoming a writer. At the age of fifteen he purchased a paperback copy of Raymond Chandler's “The Little Sister." This book inspired his life long love and dream of writing. In addition, he has been influenced by such writers as Earnest Hemmingway, John Steinbeck, Robert B Parker, Ross Macdonald, and Dashiell Hammett.

In 1976 Robert moved to Hollywood and quickly found work as a script writer for the 4 major television networks. Among his achievements are scripts for hit series such as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, Quincy, Miami Vice, and L.A. Law. He received an Emmie nomination or his work on Hill Street Blues. By the mid-eighties he was frustrated by the rigid writing requirements of Hollywood and abandoned scriptwriting to pursue his dream of becoming a novelist. Early works were unsuccessful, but led to the creation of his Elvis Cole character in 1985. His first novel based on Elvis Cole, “The Monkey's Raincoat," won the 1988 Anthony Award for “Best First Novel” and has subsequently been named as one of the 100 best Favorite Mysteries of the Century.

Robert has written a series of twelve novels with the Elvis Cole character. He has also written 3 other novels, one of which, “Hostage," has been made into a hit movie starring Bruce Willis. During his career he has written numerous short stories, essays, television pilots, episodes, and movies. Robert currently lives in the Santa Monica mountains of California with his family.