Christopher LaVaughn Cook is an American writer of crime fiction, short stories, and travel essays. Born in Tucson, Arizona, in 1952, he came up through journalism and scriptwriting before turning to fiction, and his work has earned a place among the small group of literary crime writers whose books read like serious novels and like genre fiction at the same time.
His debut novel, Robbers, was published in 2000 and chosen by Barnes & Noble for its Discover Great New Writers program in 2001. Set in East Texas, it tracks two small-time criminals on a violent road trip and is widely read in writing programs as an example of voice-driven crime fiction. His short fiction collection Screen Door Jesus & Other Stories followed, with stories appearing in anthologies including Houghton Mifflin's The Best American Mystery Stories 2003.
Cook is also a travel essayist. His memoir essay "Full Moon Over Bohemia," set in the Czech Republic where he has lived for many years with his wife Katerina Pinosova and their daughter Athena, was chosen for The Best Travel Writing anthology in 2006. He attended the University of Texas School of Journalism in 1989 after returning to Texas from earlier travels.
In 2011 Cook announced he would publish his fiction exclusively in digital format, beginning with the novella Storm. He has continued to release new ebook fiction and to make his earlier work available digitally, working independently of traditional publishers in a way that suits the small-press literary crime tradition his books grew out of.
