WHEN Robert Crais turned his back on a successful career in TV writing to try crime fiction even he wondered if he wasn't making the mistake of his life.
Fortunately, he was brave or mad enough to hold his nerve and is now one of America's top crime writers.
In this OutLoud interview, part of an exclusive series recorded at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, Crais talks about the excitement of writing for ground-breaking drama Cagney and Lacey, what drove him to walk away from it, and his leading man, Elvis Cole. He also gives a reading from his new book,
Chasing Darkness.
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Robert Crais grew up in Louisiana, harbouring ambitions of being a writer. Having sold some stories he decided to take the plunge and headed to Los Angeles to become a writer. The move paid dividends and he quickly found work writing scripts for TV movies and top television dramas including Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, and Miami Vice. He received an Emmy nomination for his work on Hill Street Blues.
But in the mid-1980s, spurred on by his personal life, he decided it was make or break time for his dream of writing a novel. His first efforts, he claims, were abysmal but he refused to give up. Inspired by the death of his father in 1985 he began writing a novel featuring detective Elvis Cole. The book,
The Monkey's Raincoat, was an award-winning hit.
Detectives Elvis Cole and Joe Pike have featured in 12 of his 15 novels. As well as three non-series novels,
Demolition Angel,
Hostage, and
The Two Minute Rule, Crais has also published a number of short stories.
Crais lives with his wife and cats in the Santa Monica mountains of Los Angeles, where he writes, runs, and wears loud shirts.
Chasing Darkness, £9.99, is published by Orion, ISBN 978-0752891590 Please use the commenting facility to let us know what you think of this book, using the following ratings:
1) Dull as dishwater
2) Okay, but could have been better
3) Pretty good, decent holiday read
4) Really liked it, can't wait for the next one
5) FANTASTIC - couldn't put it down! The full article contains 466 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
