Author | Martin Cruz Smith |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Arkady Renko # 8 |
Genre | Crime novel |
Publisher | Simon & Schuster, Macmillan |
Publication date | 12 November 2013 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover/Softcover) |
Pages | 304 pp (hardback edition) |
ISBN | 978-1-8498-3810-8 |
Preceded by | Three Stations |
Tatiana is a crime novel by Martin Cruz Smith set in Russia. It is the eighth novel to feature Detective-Investigator Arkady Renko, published 32 years after the initial novel of the Renko series, Gorky Park . [1]
One of the iconic investigators of contemporary fiction, Arkady Renko —cynical, analytical, and quietly subversive— has survived the cultural journey from the Soviet Union to the New Russia, only to find the nation as obsessed with secrecy and brutality as was the old Communist regime. In Tatiana, Martin Cruz Smith's most ambitious novel since Gorky Park, the melancholy hero finds himself on the trail of a mystery as complex and dangerous as modern Russia herself.
The fearless investigative reporter Tatiana Petrovna falls to her death from a sixth-story window in Moscow the same week that a mob billionaire, Grisha Grigorenko, is shot and buried with the trappings afforded minor royalty. No one makes the connection, but Arkady is transfixed by the tapes he discovers of Tatiana's voice, even as she describes horrific crimes concealed by official cover stories.
The trail leads to Kaliningrad, a Cold War "secret city" and home of the Baltic Fleet, separated by hundreds of miles from the rest of Russia. Arkady delves into Tatiana's past and a surreal world of wandering dunes and amber mines. His only link is a notebook written in the personal code of a translator whose body is found in the dunes. Arkady's only hope of decoding the symbols lies in Zhenya, a gifted teenage chess hustler.
The story was inspired by the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya [2] in 2006.
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, popularly known as Maxim Gorky, was a Russian and Soviet writer and socialist political thinker and proponent. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an author, he travelled widely across the Russian Empire changing jobs frequently, experiences which would later influence his writing.
Gorky Park is a 1981 crime novel written by American author Martin Cruz Smith.
Martin Cruz Smith, born Martin William Smith is an American writer of mystery and suspense fiction, mostly in an international or historical setting. He is best known for his ten-novel series on Russian investigator Arkady Renko, introduced in 1981 with Gorky Park. The tenth book in the series, Independence Square, was published in May 2023.
Gorky Park is a 1983 American mystery thriller film based on the book of the same name by Martin Cruz Smith. The film was directed by Michael Apted.
Arkady Renko is a fictional detective who is the central character of ten novels by the American writer Martin Cruz Smith.
Polar Star is a 1989 crime novel by Martin Cruz Smith, set in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. It is a sequel to Gorky Park and features former militsiya investigator Arkady Renko, taking place during the period of Perestroika.
Red Square is a crime novel by Martin Cruz Smith, primarily set in Moscow, Munich and Berlin between August 6 and August 21, 1991. It is a sequel to Gorky Park and Polar Star and features the Investigator Arkady Renko, taking place during the period of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Gypsy in Amber is a 1971 mystery novel by the American novelist Martin Cruz Smith as "Martin Smith". It was first published on January 1, 1971, by Putnam and was Smith's second novel and first mystery novel.
Wolves Eat Dogs is a crime novel by Martin Cruz Smith, set in Russia and Ukraine in the year 2004. It is the fifth novel to feature Investigator Arkady Renko and the first one taking place in Russia during the new, independent (post-Soviet) era.
Havana Bay is a crime novel by Martin Cruz Smith, set in Cuba. It is the fourth novel to feature Investigator Arkady Renko, and it won the 1999 Hammett Prize. Cruz Smith has stated the book allowed him to explore America's "insane" relationship with Cuba and that it led to some criticism of him in the U.S.
Stalin's Ghost is a crime novel by Martin Cruz Smith set in Russia circa 2005. It is the sixth novel to feature Detective-Investigator Arkady Renko, published 26 years after the initial novel in the Renko series, Gorky Park.
Chifir is an exceptionally strong tea, associated with and brewed in Soviet and post-Soviet detention facilities such as gulags and prisons.
Irina is a feminine given name of Ancient Greek origin, commonly borne by followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is derived from Eirene, an ancient Greek goddess, personification of peace. It is mostly used in countries within the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Balkans.
James Church is the pseudonym of an American author of six detective novels featuring a North Korean policeman, "Inspector O".
Child 44 is a thriller novel by British writer Tom Rob Smith. This is the first novel in a trilogy featuring former MGB Agent Leo Demidov, who investigates a series of gruesome child murders in Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union.
Rose is a 1996 novel by Martin Cruz Smith. The story is set in 1872 Wigan, Lancashire, England, a district with extensive coal mines.
Arkady is a Slavic masculine given name, ultimately derived from the Greek name Αρκάδιος, meaning “from Arcadia”. The Latin equivalent is Arcadius. Notable people with the name include:
Three Stations is a crime novel by Martin Cruz Smith set in Russia circa 2010. It is the seventh novel to feature Detective-Investigator Arkady Renko, published 29 years after the initial novel of the Renko series, Gorky Park.
One Good Turn is a 2006 crime novel by Kate Atkinson set in Edinburgh during the Festival. “People queuing for a lunchtime show witness a brutal road rage incident - an incident that changes the lives of everyone involved.” It is the second novel to feature former private investigator Jackson Brodie and is set two years after the earlier Case Histories.
The Siberian Dilemma is a 2019 crime fiction novel by American writer Martin Cruz Smith. The novel's main character is Arkady Renko, who appears in a number of Smith's works. It is the ninth of Smith's works to feature Renko. Renko is sent to Siberian taiga to investigate "oil oligarchs". Critical reception of the book included disappointment that it lacked "the exciting twists and turns of Smith's earlier novels".