Cynical, quietly subversive, brilliantly analytical and haunted by melancholy, Arkady Renko is one of the iconic detectives of contemporary fiction. He has survived, barely, the journey from the Soviet Union to the New Russia, only to find his transformed nation just as obsessed with secrecy, corruption and brutality as was the old Communist dictatorship. In his most baffling case yet, Renko enters the privileged world of Russia's new billionaire class. The grandest of them all, Pasha Ivanov, has apparently leapt to his death from the palatial splendor of his Moscow condominium. There are no signs pointing to homicide, but there is one puzzling bit of evidence: in Ivanov's closet is a mountain of salt.

Martin Cruz Smith lives in California

A New York Times Bestselling Author

Smith is best known for a series of suspense/thrillers featuring Investigator Arkady Renko. The first of these books, Gorky Park, was published in 1981 and adapted as a film starring William Hurt and Lee Marvin two years later

Smith is a two-time winner of the Hammett Award from the International Association of Crime and a recipient of Britain's Golden Dagger Award

His early work was published under the names Simon Quinn, Jake Logan, and Martin Smith

He is a member of the Authors League of America and the Authors Guild