# Martin Cruz Smith

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 series featuring Russian investigator Arkady Renko, so far ten novels, who was introduced in 1981 with Gorky Park and most recently appeared in Independence Square (2023).

## Early life and education

Martin William Smith was born in Reading, Pennsylvania to John Calhoun Smith, a jazz musician, and Louise Lopez, an American Indian of Pueblo descent, jazz singer, teacher, Amerindian rights militant, and Miss New Mexico 1939. 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, Spanish, Senecu del Sur and Yaqui ancestry.

## Career

Smith worked as a journalist from 1965 to 1969 and began writing fiction in the early 1970s. He wrote two novels in the Slocum adult action Western novels, published under the house name Jake Logan. Smith also wrote three novels in the Nick Carter series, published under the Nick Carter name.
Smith's paperback originals included 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.
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. 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", became a bestseller and won a Gold Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association. 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.
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

He 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.

## Personal life

Smith lives in San Rafael, California, with his family.