| Posted: 16 August 2025 at 3:49am | IP Logged | 3
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Of the few fiction books I read a year (99% of my reading is non-fiction) detective novels take up the last 1%. Thanks for the rec!
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Matt:
Given that a lot of Martin Cruz Smith's books were published some 30 - 40 years ago, I would recommend hunting for old paperback copies at your local used bookstores.
Not many libraries are likely to have his novels on their shelves due to their age and the fact that MCS hasn't spent a lot of time on the bestseller lists during the last decade.
That said, the fourth Arkady Renko novel (Havana Bay - 1999) is right up there as one of his best. It is a murder mystery where a Russian citizen (and friend of Renko's) is killed in Cuba and Arkady is sent to investigate, even as his life has fallen apart. The book won the Hammett Prize and was a finalist for the U.K. Dagger Award.
I put Havana Bay just below Gorky Park on my list of MCS favorites. But you really have to read the first three Renko books to fully grasp the character and what has happened to him prior to his arrival to Havana.
Also, there are two very good MCS stand alone novels that are worth checking out:
Stallion Gate (1986) - a mystery set at Los Alamos just before the test of the first atomic bomb.
Rose (1996) - set in a cold mining town in 1872 England where the local reverend has gone missing and a young girl who works in the mine seems to be the only viable witness. MCS won the Hammett Prize for the book.
I am also in your shoes when it comes to reading mostly non-fiction nowadays. A lot of my favorite mystery writers are either gone or retired and I am struggling to find new authors to replace them.
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