Mark Billingham, Featured Author, Little, Brown Book Group

author of the Tom Thorne series.

Mark Billingham

Mark Billingham is the author of eleven bestselling novels and the creator of the Thorne series. He has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculier prize for best novel of the year. He lives in North London with his family.
SO thrilled that Rush Of Blood has hit number 1. Thanks to the awesome @LittleBrownUK and all the readers for keeping faith.

Mark Billingham

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Mark Billingham's Website

Visit Mark Billingham's website to read up on the latest news and events from Mark, as well as information on his free Tom Thorne app.
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Rush of Blood

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Little, Brown

Rush of Blood

By Mark Billingham
The new standalone from the No.1 bestselling author

Perfect strangers.


A perfect holiday.


The perfect murder...



Three couples meet around the pool on their Florida holiday and become fast friends. But on their last night, their perfect holiday takes a tragic twist: the teenage daughter of another holidaymaker goes missing, and her body is later found floating in the mangroves.



When the shocked couples return home, they remain in contact, and over the course of three increasingly fraught dinner parties they come to know one another better. But they don't always like what they find: buried beneath these apparently normal exteriors are some dark secrets, hidden kinks, ugly vices...



Then, a second girl goes missing.



Could it be that one of these six has a secret far darker than anybody can imagine?



A brilliantly plotted, utterly gripping thriller about the danger of making friends on holiday, Rush of Blood is Mark Billingham's most ambitious and accomplished work to date.

Hugely effective and entertaining . . . many twists and shocksA chilling story that keeps you guessing to the last pageBritish crime at its most readableIf you like out-of-left-field and implausibly unpredictable endings from a master crime and thriller writer, you won't be disappointedThere is something a little old-fashioned in this completely engaging and black-humoured book, and something a bit Agatha Christie about the depth of the characters and the plotting, which stays one step ahead of the readerA gripping and original storyBillingham delves nicely into the domestic dramas and frustrations of everyday people, and explores the psyches and motivations of his characters, while setting readers' minds racing as to whodunitRush of Blood is typically gritty and unflinching, with Billingham's usual flair for plotting . . . a very satisfying crime readNo.1 bestseller Mark Billingham has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculier Award for Best Crime Novel, and has also won a Sherlock Award for the Best Detective created by a British writer. Each of the novels featuring Detective Inspector Tom Thorne has been a Sunday Times bestseller, and Sleepyhead and Scaredy Cat were made into a hit TV series on Sky 1 starring David Morrissey as Thorne. Mark lives in North London with his wife and two children.In the Dark, Mark's first standalone, sold over 174,000 copies

Good as Dead shot to the top of the charts for Billingham's first No.1 hardback bestseller - it sold over 5,385 copies in the first week of sales


From the Dead achieved Billingham's highest ever paperback chart position at No.2 and five weeks in the top five - his longest ever stay
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Good As Dead

By Mark Billingham
Taking place over three action-packed days, this is Mark Billingham's fastest and most surprising Thorne thriller yet, and his first since the Sky1 seriesPolice officer Helen Weeks walks into her local newsagent's on her way to work. It's the last place she expects to be met with violence, but she is about to come face to face with a gunman. The hostage-taker is desperate to know what happened to his beloved son, who died a year before in youth custody. By holding Helen at gunpoint, he will force a re-investigation into his son's death. And one man knows the case better than any other - DI Tom Thorne. As the body count rises,Thorne must race against time to bring a killer to justice and save a young mother's life.A rollercoaster of a read... confirms Billingham's status as one of the finest crime writers aroundTaut and tense, with an unusually sympathetic hostage-takerThe best thrillers make you see familiar territory in a new light. Mark Billingham has always done thatWith DI Tom Thorne's 10th outing, Mark Billingham proves he's a real contender for the title of the nation's top crime writerJust as we become used to (and are perhaps wearying of) the influx of foreign crime novels, here comes Mark Billingham with a thoroughly British police thrillerUtterly engaging... The series' page-turning credentials remain more than intactMark Billingham is the author of eleven bestselling novels and the creator of the Thorne series. He has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculier prize for best novel of the year. He lives in North London with his family.Billiingham's first new novel since the hit drama Thorne on Sky 1 HD in paperbackSales up 20% for From the Dead HB - each book keeps outselling the lastFeatures both Tom Thorne and Helen Weeks from In the Darkwww.markbillingham.com
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From The Dead

By Mark Billingham
A gripping, relentlessly paced crime masterpiece, From the Dead goes deep into a seemingly unsolvable mystery, and provides the most shocking case yet in the dark, dangerous career of Tom ThorneIt has been a decade since Alan Langford's charred remains were discovered in his burnt-out car. His wife Donna was found guilty of conspiracy to murder her husband and served ten years in prison.

But just before she is released, Donna receives a nasty shock: an anonymous letter containing a photo of her husband. The man she hates with every fibre of her being - the man she paid to have murdered - seems very much alive and well.

How is it possible that her husband is still alive? Where is he? Who sent the photo, and why?

DI Tom Thorne becomes involved in a case where nothing and no one are what they seem. It will take him much further from his London beat than he has ever been before - and closer to a killer who will do anything to protect his new life.'While Billingham has well and truly mastered the modern police procedural, the thing that sets him apart from the crowd is not just his emotional insight, but the way he invariably packs such a heart-wrenching punch... Billingham's most desperately gripping read yetAs fictional detectives go, Thorne is one of the most believable and Billingham's deserved status as a world-class crime fiction writer will surely be confirmed when a new television series based on some of his novels is aired this autumnBillingham is well aware that we're au fait with most police procedural scenarios and is always working to ring clever and inventive changes on the formula...the tension is fine-tuned with all the usual skillMost fictional sleuths are flawed but invariably triumphant; Billingham is unusually willing to show his series hero making blunder after blunderMark Billingham is the author of eleven bestselling novels and the creator of the Thorne series. He has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculier prize for best novel of the year. He lives in North London with his family.Biggest hardback sales to date: nearly 20,000 copies sold (Bookscan) and on track to become the biggest PB as wellIn the Dark paperback sold nearly 168,000 copieswww.tomthorne.com
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Bloodline

By Mark Billingham
DI Tom Thorne is back...When a dead body is found in a North London flat, it seems like a straightforward domestic murder until a bloodstained sliver of X-ray is found clutched in the dead woman's fist - and it quickly becomes clear that this case is anything but ordinary. DI Thorne discovers that the victim's mother had herself been murdered fifteen years before by infamous serial killer Raymond Garvey. The hunt to catch Garvey was one of the biggest in the history of the Met, and ended with seven women dead.

When more bodies and more fragments of X-ray are discovered, Thorne has a macabre jigsaw to piece together until the horrifying picture finally emerges. A killer is targeting the children of Raymond Garvey's victims. Thorne must move quickly to protect those still on the murderer's list, but nothing and nobody are what they seem. Not when Thorne is dealing with one of the most twisted killers he has ever hunted...An efficient and fast-paced police procedural, technically superb from its gripping opening to its climax. Billingham, who knows exactly what he's doing with his material, has the recipe just rightAnother fine addition to Billingham's formidably assured body of workThe revelations about the killer are totally unexpected - and proof that Mark Billingham is still top of the treeI found my heart racing as I read the last few chapters. I cannot remember the last time that happened to me while reading crime fiction...Tom Thorne is now definitely one of my favourite modern fictional detectivesMark Billingham is a stand-up comedian, appearing regularly at the Comedy Store. He has been awarded the 2003 Sherlock Award as the creator of the Best Detective created by a British writer and LAZYBONES won the Theakston's Old Peculier Award for best crime novel of the year. He has also been an award-winning children's writer.All of Mark Billingham novels have been Top Ten bestsellersBloodline HB in the Top Ten for four weeksAlso available as an audiobookVisit the author's website: www.tomthorne.com
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In The Dark

By Mark Billingham
A uniquely disturbing thriller from the bestselling creator of the Inspector Thorne novelsA rainy night in London. Shots are fired into a car which swerves on to the pavement, ploughing into a bus stop. It seems that a chilling gang initiation has cost an innocent victim their life. But the reality is far more sinister...

One life is wiped out and three more are changed forever: the young man whose finger was on the trigger; an ageing gangster planning a deadly revenge, and the pregnant woman who struggles desperately to uncover the truth. Two weeks away from giving birth, how will she deal with a world where death is an occupational hazard?

In a city where violence can be random or meticulously planned, where teenage gangs clash with career criminals and where loyalty is paid for in blood, anything is possible. Secrets are uncovered as fast as bodies, and the story's final twist is as breathtakingly surprising as they come.A stunning novel ... the final twist is brilliantly clever and shockingBillingham produces an astonishing final twist to complete his most ambitious and most accomplished bookChilling...A story with a twist that I guarantee even veteran crime fiction aficionados won't see comingA virtuoso performance by BillinghamMark Billingham is a stand-up comedian. He received the 2003 Sherlock Award for Best Detective created by a British writer and won the Theakston's Old Peculier Award for best crime novel of the year. He has also been an award-winning children's writer.All of Mark Billingham novels have been Top Ten bestsellersAlso available as an audiobookVisit the author's website: www.markbillingham.comMark Billingham's first standalone thriller is his most powerful novel yet. Gritty, fierce and moving, it is a must-read for anyone who likes their crime fiction unflinching...and unforgettable.
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Death Message

By Mark Billingham
The seventh Tom Thorne novel from Britain's fastest selling crime writerTHE MESSAGE
DI Tom Thorne has seen plenty of dead bodies in his time. But when he starts receiving sick photos of murder victims on his mobile phone, he soon realises that the next body could be his.
THE KILLER
And even when the man who has been sending the photos is tracked down, the deadly threat remains, For some, the case is all but closed, but Thorne's nightmare is just beginning.
THE TWIST
Because someone else is masterminding the death messages. The most vicious psychopath Thiorne has ever faced is able to manipulate others even behind bars, and time has only deepened the deadly grudge he has against the policeman who put him away...Mark Billingham is the author of eleven bestselling novels and the creator of the Thorne series. He has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculier prize for best novel of the year. He lives in North London with his family.Reissue into B format with new cover brandingSuccessful TV series on Sky1 - more episodes to comeAll Billingham titles have been Top Ten bestsellers and sales grow with every bookwww.markbillingham.com
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Buried

By Mark Billingham
The sixth hard-hitting Thorne thrillerA MISSING BOY
Teenager Luke Mullen was last seen getting into a car with an older woman. No one can understand why he has disappeared. His father - a former police officer - knows all too well that the longer he is missing, the more likely he is to turn up dead.
A TERRIFYING VIDEO
Then Luke's parents receive an anonymous video. It shows their son, eyes wide with terror, as a man advances towards him holding a syringe.
A RACE AGAINST TIME
DI Tom Thorne recognises a psychopath when he sees one. And the scene on the tape chills him to the bone - he knows that a child's life hangs in the balance, and that every minute counts...Mark Billingham is the author of eleven bestselling novels and the creator of the Thorne series. He has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculier prize for best novel of the year. He lives in North London with his family.Reissue into B format with new cover brandingSuccessful TV series on Sky1 - more episodes to comeAll Billingham titles have been Top Ten bestsellers and sales grow with every bookwww.markbillingham.com
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Lifeless

By Mark Billingham
A relentless and utterly compelling Tom Thorne thrillerA SERIES OF KILLINGS
Three men, sleeping rough on London's mean streets, have been found brutally murdered - each victim kicked to death and found with a ?20 note pinned to his chest. But were they killed at random, or were they targeted for a reason?
A DEADLY MISSION
Tom Thorne is posted to the same streets - working undercover, disguised as a homeless man. In a harsh and harrowing underworld, Thorne discovers the horrifying link between the homeless victims and the perpetrators of a fifteen-year-old atrocity.
A RUTHLESS ENEMY
Those who know are keeping quiet. But the word on these streets is that the killer is a cop...Mark Billingham is the author of eleven bestselling novels and the creator of the Thorne series. He has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculier prize for best novel of the year. He lives in North London with his family.Reissue into B format with new cover brandingSuccessful TV series on Sky1 - more episodes to comeAll Billingham titles have been Top Ten bestsellers and sales grow with every bookwww.markbillingham.com
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The Burning Girl

By Mark Billingham
The fourth DI Thorne novel from the bestselling author of Sleepyhead and Scaredy CatA MAN WHO KILLS FOR MONEY
X marks the spot - and when that spot is a corpse's naked back and the X is carved in blood, DI Tom Thorne is in no doubt that the dead man is the latest victim of a particularly vicious killer.
A BRUTAL VENDETTA
This is brutal turf warfare between north London gangs. Organised crime boss Billy Ryan is moving into someone else's patch, and that someone is not best pleased.
A COP WHO IS PLAYING WITH FIRE
And when an X is carved on DI Tom Thorne's front door, he knows the smouldering embers of this case are about to erupt into flames...Mark Billingham is the author of eleven bestselling novels and the creator of the Thorne series. He has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculier prize for best novel of the year. He lives in North London with his family.Reissue into B format with new cover brandingSuccessful TV series on Sky1 - more episodes to comeAll Billingham titles have been Top Ten bestsellers and sales grow with every bookwww.markbillingham.com
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Lazybones

By Mark Billingham
Winner of the Theakston's Old Peculier Award for Crime Novel of the YearA MONSTER MURDERED
It's only ten days since Douglas Remfry's release from prison, having served seven years for rape, and now he's dead: naked on a bare mattress in a grubby north London hotel room, his head hooded and his hands tied with a brown leather belt.
A DEADLY JUSTICE
Someone knew he was coming out. Someone wanted to mete out some punishment of his own.
A CASE NO ONE WANTS SOLVED
And when a second sex offender is found dead, DI Tom Thorne knows he has a vicious, calculating viliglante on his hands...Mark Billingham is the author of eleven bestselling novels and the creator of the Thorne series. He has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculier prize for best novel of the year. He lives in North London with his family.Reissue into B format with new cover brandingSuccessful TV series on Sky1 - more episodes to comeAll Billingham titles have been Top Ten bestsellers and sales grow with every bookwww.markbillingham.com
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Scaredy Cat

By Mark Billingham
* He kills because he's afraid not to ... how scared does that make you?
* A sensational new thriller from the author of the bestselling SLEEPYHEADIt was a vicious, calculated murder. The killer selected his victim at Euston station, followed her home on the tube, strangled her to death in front of her child. At the same time, killed in the same way, a second body is discovered at the back of King's Cross station. It is a grisly coincidence that eerily echoes the murder of two other women, stabbed to death months before on the same day... It is DI Tom Thorne who sees the link and comes to the horrifying conclusion. This is not a serial killer the police are up against. This is two of them. Finding the body used to be the worst part of the job. Not any more. Now each time a body is found, Thorne must live with the knowledge that somewhere out there is a second victim, waiting to be discovered. But whilst the methods might be the same Thorne comes to realise that he is hunting two very different killers. One is ruthless and in control, while his partner in crime is submissive, compliant, terrified. Thorne must catch a man whose need to manipulate is as great as his need to kill; a man, who will show him that the ability to inspire terror is the deadliest weapon of all...Mark Billingham is a stand-up comedian, appearing regularly at the Comedy Store. He has been awarded the 2003 Sherlock Award as the creator of the Best Detective created by a British writer. He has also written drama for children's television, including Knight School which won the Royal Television Society Award for best children's drama.Hardback of SCAREDY CAT was in the Top Ten Sunday Times bestseller list for eight weeks.and SLEEPYHEAD was a no.1 debut fiction title.www.markbillingham.com
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Sleepyhead

By Mark Billingham
Sleepyhead introduces 'the next superstar detective', Tom Thorne, and is a disturbing and unforgettable classic.A WOMAN UNLUCKY TO BE ALIVE
Alison Willetts has survived a stroke, deliberately induced by a skilful manipulation of pressure points on the head and neck. She can see, hear and feel but she is completely unable to move or communicate. In leaving Alison Willetts alive, the police believe the killer's made his first mistake.
A KILLER UNLIKE ANY OTHER
Then DI Tom Thorne discovers the horrifying truth: it isn't Alison who is the mistake, it's the three women already dead.
A COP'S WORST NIGHTMARE
Thorne must find a killer whose agenda is disturbingly unique, and Alison, the one person who holds the key to the killer's identity, is unable to say anything . . .Mark Billingham is the author of eleven bestselling novels and the creator of the Thorne series. He has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculier prize for best novel of the year. He lives in North London with his family.First of the Billingham reissues with new cover brandingSuccessful TV series on Sky1 - more episodes to comeSleepyhead was a Top Ten Sunday Times bestseller and the Number One hardback debut fiction title of the summerwww.markbillingham.com
All writers I know are readers first and foremost... that's why you become a writer. Reading is something I am passionate about, but it's about finding the time, which leads me to two problems...

Mark Billingham

Interviewed in The WSJ

Mark Billingham

No.1 bestseller Mark Billingham has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculier Award for Best Crime Novel, and has also won a Sherlock Award for the Best Detective created by a British writer. Each of the novels featuring Detective Inspector Tom Thorne has been a Sunday Times bestseller, and Sleepyhead and Scaredy Cat were made into a hit TV series on Sky 1 starring David Morrissey as Thorne. Mark lives in North London with his wife and two children.

Mark Billingham

Mark Billingham has been awarded the 2003 Sherlock Award as the creator of the Best Detective created by a British writer and has twice won the Theakston's Old Peculier prize for best novel of the year. He lives in North London with his family.

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Rush of Blood

Mark Billingham

Perfect strangers.A perfect holiday.The perfect murder...Three couples meet around the pool on their Florida holiday and become fast friends. But on their last night, their perfect holiday takes a tragic twist: the teenage daughter of another holidaymaker goes missing, and her body is later found floating in the mangroves.When the shocked couples return home, they remain in contact, and over the course of three increasingly fraught dinner parties they come to know one another better. But they don't always like what they find: buried beneath these apparently normal exteriors are some dark secrets, hidden kinks, ugly vices...Then, a second girl goes missing.Could it be that one of these six has a secret far darker than anybody can imagine?A brilliantly plotted, utterly gripping thriller about the danger of making friends on holiday, Rush of Blood is Mark Billingham's most ambitious and accomplished work to date.

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In The Dark

Mark Billingham
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Lazybones

Mark Billingham

Someone - a woman or somebody pretending to be a woman - is writing to convicted rapists in prison, befriending them and then brutally killing them when they are released. DI Tom Thorne must discover the link between these killings and a murder/suicide that took place twenty-five years before ; a tragedy to which the only witnesses were two small children, now adults and nowhere to be found...How can you escape a past that will do a lot more than just catch up with you? And how can Thorne catch a killer, when he doesn't really care about the victims?

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From The Dead

Mark Billingham

When Donna Langford receives a very recent photo of her ex-husband in the post, she gets the shock of her life. Because she's just spent ten years in prison for organising his murder. When her daughter goes missing, Donna believes there can only be one man responsible and hires Anna Carpenter, a determined young private investigator, to find him. DI Tom Thorne worked on the Alan Langford case, so when Carpenter brings the photo to him, he refuses to believe that the man whose body was found in a burned-out car ten years before can still be alive. But when a prison inmate that he and Anna interview is viciously murdered, Thorne starts to understand that Langford is not only alive, but ready to get rid of anyone who could threaten his comfortable new life in Spain...

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Dancing Towards the Blade and Other Stories

Mark Billingham

Available together in ebook for the first time ever, this trio of brilliant short stories showcases the writing talent of number one Sunday Times bestseller Mark Billingham.Dancing Towards the Blade:They are waiting for the boy on his way home, the racist thugs. For Vincent, it is the latest in a string of violent events his family has faced since moving to England. But Vincent knows something that the thugs don't: he has in him the spirit of his father who, once upon a time in a far off country, also faced down fear to prove he was Grade A.Stroke of Luck:During a summer cricket match, Alan meets Rachel, and they start a relationship - but soon Alan discovers he is having an affair with a married woman. Though not a happily married one. Rachel's husband abuses her physically and psychologically and Rachel is at her wits' end. Alan vows to protect her - but her husband is not the only one who is a threat. Rachel is being secretly watched... The Walls: When Chris spots a beautiful woman across a crowded restaurant on his business trip to Texas, he never imagines that she would be interested in him, let alone be waiting for him when he returns to his hotel later that evening.As the two strangers talk, the true and haunting reason for their visits comes to light...

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Sleepyhead

Mark Billingham
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The Dying Hours

Mark Billingham

A cluster of suicides among the elderly. Such things are not unknown to the police and the deaths are quickly dismissed by the police as routine. Only one man is convinced that something more sinister is taking place.However, no one listens to Tom Thorne anymore. Having stepped out of line once too often, he's back in uniform and he hates it. Patronised and abused by his new colleagues, Thorne's suspicions about the suicides are dismissed by the Murder Squad he was once part of and he is forced to investigate alone. Unable to trust anyone, Thorne must risk losing those closest to him.He must gamble with the lives of those targeted by a killer unlike any he has hunted before. A man with nothing to lose and a growing list of victims. A man with the power to make people take their own lives.Tom Thorne returns in Billingham's most compelling thriller to date. The Dying Hours is a haunting portrait of London's dark heart, and the darker heart of a twisted killer bringing terror to its streets.

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Scaredy Cat

Mark Billingham