Robert Crais is an American author of detective fiction who began his career as a screenwriter for television. He wrote scripts for acclaimed shows including Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, Quincy, Miami Vice, and L.A. Law before transitioning to novel writing. Crais's crime fiction draws inspiration from classic authors including Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Robert B. Parker, and John Steinbeck. His novels have achieved significant international success, with translations and publications in 62 countries and bestseller status worldwide. His contributions to the crime fiction genre have been widely recognized. Crais received the Ross Macdonald Literary Award in 2006 and was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2014. Fellow crime writer Lee Child has cited him in interviews as one of his favorite American crime writers.