C.J. Box

C.J. Box is the kind of author who wears a black cowboy hat in his headshots. He wears a cowboy hat, it seems from his biography, probably not because his hairline is disappearing like brush in a wildfire, not because he's endorsing Stetson, and certainly not because it matches his boots. No, it appears he wears a hat in nearly all photos because there is a very good chance that immediately following the photo shoot he will be standing in a stream somewhere in Wyoming wrangling trout, or taking down big game in Montana. This outdoorsman-meets-writer lifestyle, one Larry McMurtry would no doubt approve, has led Box to numerous writing trophies and trophy kills. His Joe Pickett series, about a tough-as-rawhide Wyoming game warden who routinely gets caught up in crime tales and outdoor adventures in the Rockies, has made him into a New York Times best seller. He even has some famous fans—fellow author and Wyomingite Lynn Cheney has been heard gushing about Box on NPR. At Once Upon a Crime, Box, hat and all, will discuss his latest novel, Blue Heaven, a thriller about children who witness a murder, then flee to the woods of Idaho while crooked cops hunt them down.
Mon., Jan. 14, 7 p.m., 2008