Martin Cruz Smith, born Martin William Smith (November 3, 1942), is an American writer of mystery and suspense fiction, mostly in an international or historical setting. He is best known for his ten-novel series (to date) on Russian investigator Arkady Renko, introduced in 1981 with Gorky Park. The tenth book in the series, Independence Square, was published in May 2023.
Martin Cruz Smith | |
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| Born | Martin William Smith November 3, 1942 Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
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| Occupation | |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (BA) |
| Genre | Mystery Crime |
| Notable works | Gorky Park |
| Website | |
| martincruzsmith | |
Early life and education
editMartin William Smith was born in Reading, Pennsylvania to John Calhoun Smith, jazz musician and Louise Lopez, an American Indian of Pueblo descent, jazz singer, teacher, Amerindian rights militant, and Miss New Mexico in 1939.[1] Martin was educated at Germantown Academy, in Ft Washington, Pennsylvania, then at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing in 1964. He is of partly Pueblo,[2] Spanish,[3] Senecu del Sur and Yaqui ancestry.[4]
Career
editSmith worked as a journalist from 1965 to 1969 and began writing fiction in the early 1970s. He wrote two Slocum adult action Western novels under the pen name Jake Logan.[5] He has also written a number of other paperback originals, including a series about a character named "The Inquisitor", a James Bond-type agent employed by the Vatican; and a science fiction novel, The Indians Won (1970), one of the earliest works of Native American speculative fiction to see wide publication.[6] He wrote three novels in the Nick Carter series.
Canto for a Gypsy, Smith's third novel overall and the second to feature Roman Grey, a gypsy art dealer in New York City, was nominated for an Edgar Award.[7] Nightwing (1977), also an Edgar nominee, was his breakthrough novel, and he adapted it for a feature film of the same name (1979).
Smith is best known for his novels featuring Russian investigator Arkady Renko, whom he introduced in Gorky Park (1981). The novel, which Time called the "first thriller of the '80s",[8] became a bestseller and won a Gold Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association.[9] Renko has since appeared in nine other novels by Smith. Gorky Park debuted at No. 2 on the New York Times bestseller list on April 26, 1981 and occupied the top spot for a week. It stayed in the No. 2 position for over three months, beaten only by James Clavell's Noble House, and stayed in the top 15 through November of that year. Polar Star also claimed the No. 1 spot for two weeks on August 6, 1989, and held the No. 2 spot for over two months.[citation needed]
During the 1990s, Smith twice won the Dashiell Hammett Award from the North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers. The first time was for Rose in 1996; the second time was for Havana Bay in 1999. On September 5, 2010, he and Arkady Renko returned to the New York Times bestseller list when Three Stations debuted at No. 7 on the fiction bestsellers list. His most recent novel featuring Renko is Independence Square (2023).
Pseudonym
editHe originally wrote under the name "Martin Smith", only to discover there were other writers with the same name. His agent asked Smith to add a third name and Smith chose Cruz, his paternal grandmother's surname.[5]
Personal life
editSmith lives in San Rafael, California, with his family.
Bibliography
editRomano Grey books
edit(as Martin Smith)
- Gypsy in Amber. New York: Putnam, [1971] ISBN 0-399-10386-4
- Canto for a Gypsy. New York: Putnam, [1972] ISBN 978-0-399-11024-5
The Inquisitor Series
edit(as Simon Quinn)
- The Devil in Kansas (1974)
- The Last Time I Saw Hell (1974)
- Nuplex Red (1974)
- His Eminence, Death (1974)
- The Midas Coffin (1975)
- Last Rites for the Vulture (1975)
Arkady Renko books
edit- Gorky Park. New York: Random House. 1981 ISBN 978-0-394-51748-3
- Polar Star. New York: Random House. 1989 ISBN 978-0-394-57819-4
- Red Square. New York: Random House. 1992 ISBN 978-0-679-41688-3
- Havana Bay. New York: Random House. 1999 ISBN 978-0-679-42662-2
- Wolves Eat Dogs. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2004 ISBN 978-0-684-87254-4
- Stalin's Ghost. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2007 ISBN 978-0-7432-7672-6
- Three Stations. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2010 ISBN 978-0-7432-7674-0
- Tatiana. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2013 ISBN 978-1-8498-3810-8
- The Siberian Dilemma. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2019 ISBN 978-1-4391-4025-3
- Independence Square. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2023 ISBN 978-1-6431-3325-6
Other books
edit- The Indians Won (1970)
- The Analog Bullet (1972)
- Inca Death Squad (1972) (as Nick Carter)
- The Devil's Dozen (1973) (as Nick Carter)
- Code Name: Werewolf (1973) (as Nick Carter)
- The Human Factor (1975) (as Simon Quinn)
- The Wilderness Family (1975) (as Martin Quinn)
- North to Dakota (a Slocum western) (1976) (as Jake Logan)
- Ride for Revenge (a Slocum western) (1977) (as Jake Logan)
- Nightwing (1977)
- Stallion Gate (1986). ISBN 0-345-31079-9
- Rose (1996)
- December 6 (2002) (also published as Tokyo Station)
- The Girl from Venice (2016)
References
edit- ^ "Louise L. Smith". Philadelphia Inquirer. December 17, 2007. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
- ^ Interview with Sophie Majeski at Salon.com, accessed 8 March 2011.
- ^ "Crime pays" by Nichlas Wroe, The Guardian, 26 March 2005; accessed 8 March 2011.
- ^ The Cambridge companion to Native American literature, by Joy Porter, Kenneth M. Roemer, p.8; accessed through Google Books, 8 March 2011.
- ^ a b Weber, Bruce (January 7, 1990). "Arkady Renko Goes to Munich". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
- ^ Adam Spry, "Decolonial Eschatologies of Native American Literatures," Apocalypse in American Literature and Culture, ed. John Hay (Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 55-67.
- ^ Staff Writer. "Best Mystery Novel Edgar Award Winners and Nominees Complete List of All Since 1954". Retrieved October 26, 2013.
- ^ "Books: A Moral, Exportable Sleuth". Time. March 30, 1981. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
- ^ Staff writer (n.d.). "List of Dagger Award Winners". Crime Writers' Association. Archived from the original on January 10, 2011. Retrieved January 21, 2011.