Obits

Novelist Martin Cruz Smith, 82, died on July 11. Smith wrote more than 30 books, including the Arkady Renko thriller series, which began with the #1 bestseller Gorky Park (1981) and ended with HOTEL UKRAINE, which was published last week. He was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2019. Smith lived with Parkinson’s since 1995 and incorporated the disease into Renko’s character in later books. “He was a writer, and he did it beautifully and valiantly until the very end,” Smith’s editor, Simon & Schuster publisher Sean Manning, said.

Nosy Crow publisher Katie Cunningham, 43, died on July 4 following complications of ovarian cancer. She joined Nosy Crow in March, after a long career at Candlewick Press, where she started as an intern in 2003 and rose to become svp, editorial and associate publisher. Titles she developed went on to win a Stonewall Book Award, a Schneider Family Book Award, a Michael L. Printz Honor Award, and the Kirkus Prize, among other accolades. Nosy Crow president John Mendelson said, “It’s difficult to convey not only Katie’s extraordinary talent as an editor and publisher, but also the light she brought […]

Thomas Neurath, 84, longtime managing director and later chairman of Thames & Hudson, died in London on June 13. Thames & Hudson was Neurath’s family business, founded by his father Walter Neurath and his father’s wife and publishing colleague Eva Feuchtwang in 1949. Thomas Neurath joined as editor in 1961 and became managing director in 1967, after the death of his father. He stepped down as managing director in 2005 and became chairman until 2021. The publisher writes, “Neurath was an astonishingly skillful publisher and an astute businessman. Aspects of publishing such as distribution and finance were as important to […]

Thriller writer Frederick Forsyth, 86, died on June 9 after a brief illness. He wrote 18 espionage thrillers and 24 books in all, which have sold more than 75 million copies worldwide according to the NYT. Many of Forsyth’s novels, including The Day of the Jackal (1971) and The Odessa File (1972), were inspired by his days as a journalist and working with MI6. Putnam will publish the sequel to The Odessa File, REVENGE OF ODESSA, co-written by Tony Kent, on November 18. “Frederick Forsyth was one of the undisputed true giants of international suspense fiction. We shall miss him […]

Novelist, essayist and playwright Edmund White, 85, died on June 3 “while waiting for an ambulance after experiencing symptoms of a stomach illness.” White was a pioneering chronicler of gay life, and the author of more than 30 books including Forgetting Elena, A Boy’s Own Story, The Married Man, and many more.