Martin Cruz Smith (1942-2025) Acclaimed Noir and Literary Novelist

Martin Cruz Smith (1942-2025, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded in the KPFA studio December 9, 2004 while on tour for his novel “Wolves Eat Dogs.”

The great noir and detective author Martin Cruz Smith died of Parkinsons Disease on July 11, 2025 at the age of 82.  A journalist originally, and then a writer of paperback fiction under a variety of pseudonyms, he began writing under his own name and became known following the publication of a horror novel, Nightwing, in 1977. Though it wasn’t until 1981 with the release of Gorky Park, a detective novel set in Soviet Russia and featuring investigator Arkady Renko, that he hit best-seller stardom. Over the next few years, he alternated non-series novels with entries in the Renko series, all to much acclaim.

“Wolves Eat Dogs” is partially set in Ukraine, in and around Chernobyl. In the interview, Bill Smith discusses his own trip to Kyiv and Ukraine, and the politics of the early 2000s, which offers insight into what’s happening in 2025.

There are four Martin Cruz Smith interviews. The first two, both co-hosted with Richard A. Lupoff for Probabilities, were recorded in 1990 while on tour for Polar Star, the sequel to Gorky Park, and then again in 1996 for the award-winning stand-alone novel, Rose. These interviews have yet to be digitized. This is the third interview. The fourth, for his novel “Tatiana,” was recorded on December 9, 2013.