C. J. Box is a Wyoming native and has worked as a ranch hand, surveyor, fishing guide, a small town newspaper reporter and editor, and he co-owns a tourism marketing firm with his wife, Laurie. An avid outdoorsman, Box has hunted, fished, hiked, ridden, and skied throughout Wyoming and the Mountain West. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.

Box lives outside of Cheyenne with Laurie and his three daughters, Molly, Becky, and Roxanne and too many horses, dogs, birds, barn cats, rabbits, rats, and fish.