I have traveled almost my entire life as a US Navy Sailor and civilian, and I still am. The cities, countries, and locations are composites of places I have visited. I have been a Correctional Counselor and a Criminal Investigator in addition to other positions. My extensive travel and background provide me with a unique view of the world that I try to reflect in my stories.
The cold war holds a special spot for me. The USSR's internal conflicts are very similar to what Russians I knew escaped from before and during the buildup of the USSR talked about. I re-read this last year and found it still exudes the mysterious feel of Mother Russia. Maybe even more so now.
Arkady Renko, a Moscow homicide investigator, investigates a crime that isn’t possible because there are no murders in the Soviet Union. It must be the work of an insane person or infiltrator. Arkady struggles to do justice for the people he serves, and the bureaucrats are looking to sweep it all under the rug. Great twists make for great stories.
Don't miss the latest book in the Arkady Renko series, THE SIBERIAN DILEMMA by Martin Cruz Smith, 'the master of the international thriller' (New York Times) - available to order now!
THE NOVEL THAT STARTED IT ALL - ARKADY RENKO NOVEL #1
'One of those writers that anyone who is serious about their craft views with respect bordering on awe' Val McDermid
'Makes tension rise through the page like a shark's fin' Independent
*** Three bodies found frozen in the snow. And the hunt for the killer begins...
It begins with a triple murder in a Moscow amusement center: three…
What’s not to love about a medieval setting? History proves the medieval period was nothing but whispers, political debauchery, and plenty of murders to keep a secret, power, or both. I love the progression through the doubts and anxiety of searching for a murderer inside a protected, entitled organization.
Bureaucrats have a secret and are desperate and willing to keep it. I love the intertwining of history and allusions to past literature. Is William of Baskerville, the protagonist, written in the image of Sherlock Holmes? There are others throughout the book. See how many you can find.
The year is 1327. Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective.
William collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded manuscripts, and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey where extraordinary things are happening under the cover of night. A spectacular popular and critical success, The Name of the Rose is not only a narrative of a murder investigation but an astonishing chronicle of the Middle Ages.
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
This isn’t a typical murder story, but it has it all: personal dilemmas, paranormal lines, and killings wrapped around a dystopian world where good and evil are on a collision course. This is, perhaps my favorite book.
It was King’s gold standard for decades. The traveling east to west, the sages met, the people killed. Those turned against their friends. Twists galore. It is a long read, a bit over 1,100 pages. Don’t let that scare you, it is a page turner from start to finish.
Stephen King's apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by virus and tangled in an elemental struggle between good and evil remains as riveting and eerily plausible as when it was first published.
Soon to be a television series.
'THE STAND is a masterpiece' (Guardian). Set in a virus-decimated US, King's thrilling American fantasy epic, is a Classic.
First come the days of the virus. Then come the dreams.
Dark dreams that warn of the coming of the dark man. The apostate of death, his worn-down boot heels tramping the night roads. The warlord of the charnel house and Prince of…
Are ex-CIA agents all living in isolation taunted by their deeds? We may never know, they may have to kill us if we do. Dan Hendricks, the main character is torn between justice and protecting agents he knew in the frosty cold of Sweden.
It was a page-turner for me. I enjoy stories set in faraway places where the rules aren’t always the same. Having been to Sweden in winter I am familiar with the sting of the biting breezes. Brrr.
Dan Hendricks is a man in need of a lifeline. A former CIA operative, he is now an agent for hire by foreign powers on the hunt for dangerous fugitives. It's a lethal world at the best of times, and Dan knows his number is almost up. His next job could be his last-and his next job is his biggest yet.
The target sounds trackable enough: Jacques Fillon, who gave up his life trying to save a fellow passenger following a bus crash in northern Sweden. But the man was something of an enigma in this rural community, and his…
Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…
I love this fast, fun short story set in 16th-century London. I love scenes that exude character. Finding a body anywhere is gruesome, but finding one in a unique setting is magical. Especially when the author and the main character have the same last names.
A historical thriller, the author took pains to get correct. As a bonus you can click the footnotes and see how the author wrote the scene. I love that there is a lot packed into a very short story. It left me wishing it was longer.
Historical mystery at its most compelling!A beautiful 15 year old girl is found murdered on the streets of 16th century London. Three suspects emerge, each with means and motive. Hippo Yeoman, an apothecary and 'cunning man', is hired by the court to find the killer. But dare he name the murderer who has already killed four women - and may kill more? As horror succeeds horror, he is lured into a world of evil and deception, a hideous reality that lies behind the City's face.This short historical crime story, set in Elizabethan England and authentic to its period, is a…
Lisa Daniels runs into Janice Walters from Lake Village, Ohio, in Dundrum, Northern Ireland. She was clueless right up to the moment of her death. Maya Campbell saw something and went searching the next day. Maya expects justice to be had for Lisa, but none comes.
Thirteen years later, as a detective with the Northern Ireland Police, she searches for Lisa’s murder(s). The evidence leads her ultimately to the Briarwood Hotel in Lake Village, Ohio, and the rich, influential owners, Janice and Nathan Walters. Justice may evade Lisa until a retired Nassau County Police Officer and two Ohio State Internal Affairs detectives join her task force. Proving a thing takes time. Some won’t wait.
This is the fourth book in the Joplin/Halloran forensic mystery series, which features Hollis Joplin, a death investigator, and Tom Halloran, an Atlanta attorney.
It's August of 2018, shortly after the Republican National Convention has nominated Donald Trump as its presidential candidate. Racial and political tensions are rising, and so…
“Rowdy” Randy Cox, a woman staring down the barrel of retirement, is a curmudgeonly blue-collar butch lesbian who has been single for twenty years and is trying to date again.
At the end of a long, exhausting shift, Randy finds her supervisor, Bryant, pinned and near death at the warehouse…
