Martin Cruz Smith is an accomplished American author, best known for his mystery novels. Born as Martin William Smith on November 3, 1942, in Reading, Pennsylvania, he was raised in a family that was passionate about jazz and committed to the cause of Pueblo Indian rights. Smith graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing from the University of Pennsylvania in 1964. His first foray into the writing world was as a sports journalist for the Associated Press in Pennsylvania, but he soon moved on to work as an editor for the men's magazine "For Men Only" in New York.
Before becoming a successful fiction author, Smith worked as a journalist from 1965 to 1969. He published his first mystery, "Gypsy in Amber," in 1971, featuring NY gypsy art dealer Roman Grey, which was nominated for an Edgar Award. However, it was his novel "Nightwing" that brought him significant recognition and was made into a movie. Smith is perhaps most famous for his series of novels featuring Russian investigator Arkady Renko. The first novel in this series, "Gorky Park," published in 1981, was a bestseller and won the Gold Dagger Award from the British Crime Writers' Association. Renko has also appeared in "Polar Star," "Red Square," "Havana Bay," "Wolves Eat Dogs," "Stalin's Ghost," and "Three Stations."
In addition to his work as Martin Cruz Smith, he has also written under various pseudonyms such as Simon Quinn, Nick Carter, and Jake Logan. Under the name Simon Quinn, he wrote "The Inquisitor Series," and as Nick Carter, he penned the "Nick Carter: Killmaster" series with Mike Avallone and others. He has also written two Slocum adult action westerns as Jake Logan. Smith now lives in San Rafael, California, with his wife and three children. He has won the British Crime Writers’ Association's Gold Dagger Award and the Dashiell Hammett Award twice from the International Association of Crime Writers’ North American Branch for his outstanding work.