A former improvisational comedian (he and Bruce Willis were in the same Greenwich Village comedy troupe in the early 1980s), Chris spent nearly twenty years writing commercials for America's top advertising agencies.

You've probably seen his spots for clients such as Seven Up, Miller Lite, KFC, Dr. Pepper, and many others. He was, perhaps most famously, the copy writer who created Trojan Man.

He ended his advertising career as an Executive Vice President/Group Creative Director at Young & Rubicam in New York.

His writing talent was first discovered by James Patterson, his Creative Director at J. Walter Thompson Advertising. Patterson had come up with a Writing Aptitude Test, which ran as a full-page ad in The New York Times under the headline "Write If You Want Work." Over 2,000 applicants responded. Chris was the first writer hired.

Chris co-wrote the screenplay for the CBS-TV movie THE CHRISTMAS GIFT, starring John Denver. He also had the great good fortune to write scripts for Jim Henson's MUPPETS. In fact, Chris has been writing professionally since he moved to New York from Chattanooga, Tennessee—bringing along seven suitcases and the Smith-Corona typewriter he got as a high school graduation gift.

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He won the Anthony Award for "Best First Mystery" for his debut TILT A WHIRL—the first in a series of John Ceepak stories set "Down The Shore" in a New Jersey tourist town called Sea Haven. The second book, MAD MOUSE, was called one of the "Ten Best Mysteries of 2006" by Kirkus. WHACK A MOLE came out to great critical acclaim in 2007. The New York Daily News called the fourth Ceepak book, HELL HOLE, a "must-read." MIND SCRAMBLER and ROLLING THUNDER, which was a finalist for the Watson Award for Best Sidekick, round out the first Ceepak six pack.

Chris created the fast-paced Holiday Thrillers include SLAY RIDE and HELL FOR THE HOLIDAYS and became a New York Times Best Selling author thanks to his short story "The Demon In the Dunes," which appeared in the anthology DEATH'S EXCELLENT VACATION edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner.

Random House publishes his critically acclaimed Haunted Mystery Series for Middle Grades readers: THE CROSSROADS, which won both the Anthony and Agatha awards for best Children's/YA novel, THE HANGING HILL (which also won the Agatha), THE SMOKY CORRIDOR, and The BLACK HEART CRYPT.

His new caper series for kids (an OCEAN'S ELEVEN starring eleven-year-olds) RILEY MACK AND THE OTHER KNOWN TROUBLEMAKERS will debut in January 2012 from HarperCollins.

Chris is a past president of the New York Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America. He lives with his beautiful, beloved wife J.J., a voice-over actress (check out her narration on the Haunted Mystery audio books), in Manhattan.

He often credits his furry friend FRED for giving him time to dream up story ideas because the dog takes Chris on four contemplative walks a day. His cats Parker and Tiger Lilly also help out. Parker enjoys headbutting his computer-mouse hand. Tiger Lilly enjoys traipsing across the keyboard and helppppppp...

That was Tiger Lilly.