I love to read and I still prefer real books made out of paper! Mind you, I haven't got one of those e-reader things so I don't really know whether I'd like them or not. I was also the last in my family to get a mobile phone .....so obviously I'm a bit of a dinosaur. There is something very special about books, you get drawn in to other worlds (albeit imaginary ones) and a good author weaves credible and interesting characters. One of my favourites is Robert Crais whose main protagonist is 'The World's Greatest Detective' Elvis Cole. Elvis seems a bit eccentric with his bright yellow 1966 Corvette, his cat with no name and a wonderfully sarcastic turn of phrase, but he is a very clever man who won't leave a case alone until he has solved it.
After reading all of Robert's books, I feel like I know Elvis and his friend Joe Pike very well indeed. (Yes, I know they are not real), but to me they almost are, such is the strength of the writing.
I have met Robert Crais ..... and what a lovely man he is too. My Dad and I went to see him on his European Tour of the novel 'The Two Minute Rule', one of his stand alone books.
The signing was at a large Borders Store in Preston which sadly is no longer there and he was very friendly, reading an extract and taking questions from the audience.
Me and Dad are in this picture...can you find us?
We bought copies of the book and he signed them for us and chatted a while. We also had our photo's taken with him (which I will put on here, if and when I work out how to do it as they are not on my computer). I'll admit I was quite starstruck, as not only is Robert one of my favourite writers but he's also extremely handsome. If you want to know more about him you can visit his website at http://www.robertcrais.com/ and another brilliant website for books is http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ where you can find all your favourite authors along with links to their websites and lists of all their books in order.
Just a few interesting facts before I go. Crais was born in Louisiana where he grew up on the banks of the Mississippi. In 1976 he went to Hollywood where he soon found work writing scripts for some of the best televisions shows of the time, including Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice and Cagney & Lacey (incidentally, three of my favourite shows). He created Elvis Cole, using elements of his own life as the basis of the story. The resulting novel 'The Monkey's Raincoat', won the Anthony and Macavity Awards and was nominated for the Edgar Award. It has since been selected as one of the 100 Favourite Mysteries of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.
I have read all his books at least four times and still find them just as interesting. Some people can't see the point of reading a book more than once, but I like the comfort of the familiar characters, and I'm sure I'll read them many more times. There's just one tiny criticism I have for Robert, and if I meet him again I will ask him to please......
WRITE FASTER...
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