Charles James Box Jr., known as C.J. Box, is an American author renowned for his thrilling novels, including the famous Joe Pickett series. Born in 1958, Box has penned over thirty novels translated into 27 languages, with more than ten million copies sold in the U.S. alone.

Box's first novel in the Joe Pickett series, Open Season, was recognized as a Notable Book by The New York Times in 2001. Several of his works, including Open Season, Blue Heaven, Nowhere to Run, and The Highway have been optioned for film and television adaptations. Notably, The Highway served as a basis for the television drama series Big Sky, debuting in November 2020.

In 2016, his novel Off the Grid reached the #1 spot on The New York Times Best Seller list. In 2021, a television adaptation of Box's Joe Pickett novels began production by Paramount Television Studios, featuring actor Michael Dorman as Joe Pickett, and was renewed for a second season in 2022.

C.J. Box's achievements are numerous, including winning the Edgar Alan Poe Award for Best Novel for Blue Heaven in 2009, as well as receiving the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, two Barry Awards, and the 2010 Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Award for fiction. He was also awarded the 2016 Western Heritage Award for Literature and the Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel by the Western Writers of America in 2017.

Box, a native of Wyoming, has a diverse background including roles as a ranch hand, surveyor, fishing guide, newspaper reporter, and editor. He is an avid outdoorsman and has served on the Board of Directors for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo and the Wyoming Office of Tourism.

He resides with his wife Laurie on their ranch in Wyoming, enjoying life as a proud father and grandfather.