Martin Cruz Smith, bestselling author of "Gorky Park" and other thrillers, dies at 82

Martin Cruz Smith, the bestselling mystery novelist who engaged readers for decades with "Gorky Park" and other thrillers featuring Moscow investigator Arkady Renko, has died at age 82.

Smith died Friday at a senior living community in San Rafael, California, "surrounded by those he loved," his publisher, Simon & Schuster, said in a statement. Smith revealed a decade ago that he had Parkinson's disease, and he gave the same condition to his protagonist. His 11th Renko book, "Hotel Ukraine," was published this week and billed as his last.

"My longevity is linked to Arkady's," he told Strand Magazine in 2023. "As long as he remains intelligent, humorous, and romantic, so shall I."