Mark Billingham at Tangled Web UK

Page Updated: 04/09/2007

Page 1

Page 2

Mark Billingham - Page 1

30 Aug 07

pbk 31 May 07

Why a Comedian Should Want to Become a Crimewriter

WebPage: http://www.markbillingham.com

About the Author (Photo (c) Jerry Bauer)

Bibliography

Hardback
Little,Brown (2007)

Death Message

‘Thorne looked at the picture, feeling the pulse quicken at the side of his neck. There were times when he couldn’t see what was staring him in the face, but this, for better or worse, was his area of expertise. Thorne knew a dead man when he saw him.’

‘Delivering the death message.’ That’s what coppers call it when they have to tell someone that a loved one has been killed. Now DI Tom Thorne is receiving messages of his own. Photos of murder victims sent to his mobile phone.
The killer is quickly identified as a man just released from prison; someone who believes he has nothing left to live for. But why is he sending these pictures to Thorne? The answer lies in Thorne’s past, with a man he himself sent away for life. Even behind bars, the most vicious psychopath Thorne has ever faced is still a master at manipulating others to do his dirty work for him. Particularly his killings ...
A tour-de-force by one of Britain’s most compelling crime writers, Death Message is a chilling and unforgettable novel.
‘Billingham is a world-class crime writer and Thorne is a wonderful creation. Rush to read this book’ Karin Slaughter
‘Morse, Rebus, and now Mark Billingham’s Thorne. The next superstar detective is already with us – don’t miss him’ Lee Child
‘Billingham knows how to build a story, invite you in and then lock the door behind you. Read Death Message and you’ll see for yourself’ Michael Connelly

First British Edition Little,Brown (2006)

Buried
Teenager Luke Mullen is missing. Last seen by schoolmates getting into a car with an older woman, it is unclear whether he has disappeared voluntarily or been abducted.
Police looking for the boy are pretty certain they are dealing with a kidnap. The son of a former police officer, Luke has no history of being out of touch, no track record of truancy or misbehaviour. And they know that the longer he is missing, the more likely he is to turn up dead.
Then the videotape arrives ...
On special assignment to the Kidnap Unit, Detective Inspector Tom Thorne searches desperately for the boy, and for anyone who might have a grudge against him or his family. As someone who had put away a lot of tough villains in his time, Luke’s father is asked to come up with some names. A list is drawn up, but it is the omission which intrigues Thorne - a man who threatened ex-DCI Tony Mullen, served his time, and is now the main suspect in an unsolved murder. Has Mullen simply forgotten the man’s name in the emotional trauma of his son’s disappearance? Or is he hiding something?
When the kidnapper demonstrates, shockingly, that he is not afraid to kill, Thorne knows he does not have the luxury of time. He must dig hard and deep into past cases and past lives. He learns that secrets are as easily hidden as bodies, and that even if Luke Mullen is still alive, making assumptions is the quickest way to get him dead and buried.
‘For those who have not yet come across the implacable Dl Thorne and his team, treat yourself. You won’t be disappointed’ Sunday Express
‘Crime fiction which earns your anxiety and your respect. Billingham gets better and blacker with each book’ Literary Review
‘Billingham is different, and enthralling. I defy any reader not to be hooked’ Mirror
‘Mark Billingham has patented a potent formula that combines the grittiness of American mystery writing with the down-to-earth sensibility of its British counterpart’ Guardian
‘One of the best and most innovative writers on British crime scene’ Daily Express

First British Edition Little,Brown (2005)

Lifeless
The fifth DI Tom Thorne novel from Britain's hottest new talent, set in the heart of London.
To his friends, his foes and even to himself it looks as though Tom Thorne's career is on the skids. On his last case he had seriously over-stepped the mark, and now gardening leave has been suggested and all he has to tend is a window box. So when it appears someone is targeting London's homeless community it seems perfectly natural for Thorne to take a step nearer to the gutter and go undercover amongst them. He blends into the sometimes invisible community easily - too easily perhaps - but the information he gleans quickly proves that this is no random killer, it is someone with a very distinct purpose and a very specific list of victims, only the team supporting Thorne from the outside don't have the key to motive or identity. Then somehow the fact that a policeman is working under cover becomes public knowledge … With acute observation of character and place, combined with his acknowledged mastery of plotting, Lifeless raises the Thorne series to an even higher level.

First British Edition Little,Brown (2004)

The Burning Girl
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 contract killer. It’s morbid and messy - but it’s a mystery with plenty of clues. This is 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.
Thorne’s already got plenty on his plate when he agrees to help out ex-DCI Carol Chamberlain, frantically raking through the ashes of an old case that has come back to haunt her. When schoolgirl Jessica Clarke was turned into a human torch twenty years ago, it made horrific headlines. But now there’s something worrying in the small print: Gordon Rooker, the man Carol put away for the crime, is up for possible release, and it seems there’s a copycat at large. Or perhaps it’s someone trying to ‘right’ a few wrongs. For Jessica Clarke was the victim of mistaken identity. The intended target was the daughter of a gangland boss, a woman who would later grow up and marry a man named Billy Ryan ...
For Thorne, what starts as a tenuous link becomes two pieces of the same puzzle. Past and present gradually fuse together to form a new, and very nasty, riddle. One that involves more killings, protection rackets, human cargoes, and a murderous family with no values -except gain at any price. And when an X is carved on his front door, Tom Thorne knows that the smouldering embers of a long-dead case are about to erupt into flames ...
The fourth Tom Thorne novel, The Burning Girl blazes a trail through territory now marked with the unique Billingham twist. Like the best of both British and American crime writing, the author delivers a plot coiled into tautness, punches you don’t see coming, and characters who will remain seared into the memory long after the heart-stopping finale ...
‘Mark Billingham has patented a potent formula that combines the grittiness of American mystery writing with the down-to-earth sensibility of its British counterpart’ Guardian

Paperback - timewarner (2004)

First British Edition Little,Brown (2003)

Lazybones

‘Thorne knew when he was looking at something out of the ordinary. This was a significant murder scene. This was the work of a killer driven by something special, something spectacular. He looked at the dead man on the bed - the position of him, as if he were praying. Thorne guessed that at the end, he probably had been.’

The body is found in the seediest of North London hotel rooms. Kneeling, naked on a bare mattress, his head is hooded and his hands tied tight with a brown leather belt. And then there’s the sinister finishing touch - the call from the florist to check arrangements for the wreath ...
It is only ten days since convicted rapist Douglas Remfry had been released from prison. Someone knew he was coming out. Someone wanted to mete out some punishment of his own. When a second sex offender is discovered dead, the police believe they have a vicious, calculating vigilante on their hands.
But how does the killer lure his victims to their deaths? Who do the victims think they are going to meet in these hotel rooms? Then the police find the letters ...
Thorne works best when his passions are up, when his anger flares him into action. This time, he has little sympathy for the dead. It is only as his investigation continues that Tom Thorne finally, discovers a victim worth fighting for, a victim whose identity becomes crucial in cracking this most twisted of cases ...
'He has brought a rare and welcome blend of humanity, dimension and excitement to the genre and earned an instant seat at the top table of crime novelists' George P. Pelecanos
‘Ingenious detective work, horribly inventive methods of murder ... Third hit in a row for Billingham. Grimy, grisly, pungently good’ Literary Review
‘For those who have not come across the implacable Detective Inspector Thorne and his team yet, treat yourself - you won’t be disappointed’ Sunday Express

About The Author
Mark Billingham was born and brought up in Birmingham but now lives in London with his wife and two children. He is a successful stand-up comedian and an award winning television writer. Sleepyhead, his best-selling debut novel, hit the Sunday Times Top 10 and became the number one hardback fiction debut of Summer 2001.

Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
Support Tangled Web - Buy Your Books Online

Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.

Death Message (Little,Brown, 2007) Aug 07

Buried (Little,Brown, 2006) Sphere Pbk May 07 (Tom Thorne)

Lifeless (Little,Brown, 2005) (Tom Thorne)

The Burning Girl (Little,Brown, 2004) (Tom Thorne)

Lazybones (Little,Brown, 2003) timewarner Pbk Jul 04 (Tom Thorne)

Scaredy Cat (Little,Brown, 2002) timewarner Pbk May 03 (Tom Thorne)

Sleepyhead (Little,Brown, 2001) timewarner Pbk Jul 02 (Tom Thorne)