Robert Crais' career has followed an opposite course from that of most mystery writers, having gone from Hollywood scriptwriting to writing novels.

Here's some material from his website. The ellipses indicate editing:

Robert Crais is . . . a native of Louisiana, he grew up in a blue collar family of oil refinery workers and police officers, and was trained as a mechanical engineer before pursuing his dream of becoming a writer. After years of amateur film-making and writing short fiction, he journeyed to Hollywood in 1976, where he quickly found work writing scripts . . .

. . . In the mid-eighties, feeling constrained by the rigid working requirements of Hollywood, Crais created Elvis Cole and Joe Pike in order to deal with themes he could not readily explore on television. His major literary influences were Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, and Robert B. Parker, among others.

What?

" . . . constrained by the rigid working requirements of Hollywood . . . "?

and

" . . . deal with themes he could not readily explore on television . . . "?

Hollywood is the place where Raymond Chandler convinced Billy Wilder that he couldn't finish the "Double Indemnity" screenplay unless he was drunk, so Wilder provided whiskey, and a nurse to get Chandler through the heebie-jeebies. And, Crais found Hollywood too restrictive?

As for "dealing with themes," this is an industry that gives us "very special" television episodes and movies of the week about father / daughter incest, rape pregnancies, and the murder and dismemberment of crack whores.

What kind of themes did Crais want to "explore" that would sour that town's stomach?

Some of those statements have the ring of "code" about them. It would be interesting to find out what they really meant.

In the meantime, Crais writes a pretty good stick. Elvis Cole isn't as hard-boiled as his early literary predecessors. He's more of a sensitive New Age guy who won't give a mug a lead pill just because he deserves it, though his partner, Joe Pike, might.

The Elvis Cole Novels

Other Novels by Robert Crais