Mark Billingham Books

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Mark Billingham is a British author who writes mainly in the realm of crime fiction. He is perhaps best known for Tom Thorne series of books, however, in terms of literature, he has also written standalone novels, as well as branching out into children’s fiction, again in the thriller genre. Billingham has also tried his hand act acting, stand-up comedy and has written work for television.

The author Mark Billingham was born on July 2nd 1961 in Solihull, in the English county of Warwickshire, however he spent most of his formative years in the Birmingham suburb of Moseley. In fact, even during his schooling and tertiary education, Billingham never ventured too far from home, spending most of his time in the Midlands. He graduated from university with a degree in drama, and set his sights on the bright lights of London, where he hoped to make it big.

Unfortunately, Mark Billingham’s dreams of being a famous actor petered out not long after venturing to the capital, and after a few minor roles, he decided that stand-up comedy was where his future lay. And Billingham had and continues to have great success as a stand-up comedian, working his way through the ranks until eventually becoming the headliner. This switch to comedy also helped him transition from ‘serious’ acting roles, into comedy roles on screen, where he found success in smaller roles, and eventually in hit TV children’s television series Maid Marian and her Merry Men, in which he played Gary the guard who was employed by the Sheriff of Nottingham.

This switch to stand-up and comedy roles led Mark Billingham to turn his hand to script writing, where he had success with programmes such as Harry’s Mad and Knight School. However, it wasn’t where his heart truly was due to interference from other people turning his scripts into something he wasn’t happy with. This led to Billingham turning to novel writing.

In 2001, Mark Billingham’s first published book (well, apart from the novelisation of Knight School), was Sleepyhead, which was also the first appearance of his most successful character Tom Thorne. Sleepyhead revolves around a patient in hospital who is suffering from locked-in syndrome. Sleepyhead was also adapted for television, being shown on Sky 1 in October 2010. David Morrissey took on the lead role as Tom Thorne.

Billingham followed up the success of Sleepyhead with the second book in his Tom Thorne series of books, which is called Scaredy Cat, and it was published in 2002. Scaredy Cat was based on a real-life incident in Billingham’s life in which he and his writing partner Peter Cocks were kidnapped and held hostage in 1997. It also won a Sherlock Award for Best Detective Novel Created by a UK Author, as well as being nominated for the CWA’s Gold Dagger award. Scaredy Cat was also adapted by Sky 1 and again featured David Morrissey in the lead role.

Lazybones was the follow-up to Scaredy Cat, and the third book in the Tom Thorne series. After great commercial success, Lazybones was to be Billingham’s critical breakthrough, as it won him the 2004 Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. After Lazybones, the fourth book in the Tom Thorne series was published, The Burning Girl. That was followed by Lifeless and then Buried. The seventh book in the Tom Thorne series, Death Message, which was published in 2007, would win a second Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.

After the publication of Death Message, Billingham stepped back from the Tom Thorne series, and wrote Triskellion, along with his writing partner, Peter Cocks, which was published in 2008, and was the first book in the Triskellion Trilogy. Triskellion was followed by Triskellion 2: The Burning, and then Triskellion 3: The Gathering in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

After the publication of the first book in the Triskellion series, Billingham returned to Tom Thorne to write Bloodline, and then From the Dead, Good as Dead, The Dying Hours, The Bones Beneath, Time of Death and Die of Shame.

Mark Billingham has also written standalone novels In the Dark, and Rush of Blood.

Mark Philip Billingham is a well-established English novelist who is best known for Tom Thorne book series. Apart from being, an actor Mark Billingham is also a comedian and television screenwriter. Mark was born and raised in Solihull, West Midlands. Later on, Mark Billingham and his family relocated to Moseley, Birmingham. He was admitted to the King Edward VI Camp Grammar School while residing in the King’s Health area. Billingham attended University while still residing in the King’s Health area. After Mark Billingham had completed his University Education, he continued to stay in the Birmingham region, where Billingham played a key role in forming a socialist theater company known as Bread and Circuses. Bread and Circuses conducted tours to various colleges, art centers, streets, and schools, where they performed for different kind of audiences.

In the 1980’s Mark Billingham relocated to London City, where he became a jobbing actor. Billingham landed various minor roles in various TV shows such as Juliet Bravo, The Bill, Boon and Dempsey and the Makepeace. After landing various bad guy roles, where he played a drug addict, a racist copper, a bent copper and a nasty copper. After learning that in the acting business, the emphasis was being laid on looks and not talent, Billingham became rather disenchanted. In the year 1987, Mark decided to pursue a career in comedy because he believed that no one in the comedy business especially the audience cared about how the comedian looked like. During this period, getting a breakthrough in stand-up comedy was not so hard as it would later become.

Within one year, Mark Billingham was already playing at comedy store. He later became the headline for the comedy store on some occasions and also appeared as the Master of Ceremonies. Despite the fact that he felt somewhat ambivalent towards some of the serious roles, Mark Billingham still found immense success by joining his career as a comic and an actor to work in some of the comedy shows. Mark Billingham became the only human face in the Spitting Image show, which was a puppet representation celebrity series. In the year 2001, Mark Billingham very first crime thriller, Sleepyhead was released in the United Kingdom. Billingham is a fan of crime fiction and an exceedingly serious collector of crime novels as well. After several years of collecting books, Mark Billingham decided to start reviewing books and interviewing authors as well.

Mark Billingham Books into Movies

The book series Tom Thorne was adapted into a screenplay. Thorne is a television drama series that first appeared on Sky 1 in the United Kingdom in the year 2010. The series features well-known stars such as David Morrissey, Eddie Marsan, and Aiden Gillen.

Best Mark Billingham Books

Sleepyhead: This is one of the most outstanding books by Mark Billingham. In this book, Mark introduces the reader to Tom Thorne, a 41-year-old man who has been divorced for three years and is childless. Currently, he is living all by himself in a one bed flat that is located in Kentish Town. Thorne is a man who is exceedingly obsessed with his work. However, his obsession with work has, in turn, created a revered reputation within the Metropolitan police as someone whom you should avoid when you want your career to last for a long time. According to the wife of Thorne’s right-hand man, Thorne is more like a ticking time bomb. Phil Hendrick’s is Thorne’s only friend. He is a police pathologist, who Tom loves to spend time with especially in the evening while drinking beer or watching football.

Apart from dancing to music, Tom loves to spend a major part of his day catching criminals. Tom’s latest case is the one that involves a serial killer whose main motive is targeting women within their homes and then drug them before eventually killing them. However, the killer’s fourth victim managed to survive the procedure and is currently relying on the ventilator in one of the local hospitals. The victim is unable to speak or even move. Thorne eventually finds a note beneath his windscreen. The note is from the serial killer, and it explains that practice makes perfect. It eventually dawns on him that the killer did not make a mistake with his latest victim. With that being said, Mark Billingham has done an excellent job of penning down a well thought-out thriller that is engaging from the first page.

Mark Billingham FAQs

Q: What nationality is the author Mark Billingham?

A: The crime fiction author Mark Billingham is British.

Q: What is the first book published by Mark Billingham?

A: The first book published by Mark Billingham is the novelisation of his television series Knight School, which was published in 1998.

Q: What is the name of Tom Billingham’s first Tom Thorne novel?

A: Mark Billingham’s first Tom Thorne novel is Sleepyhead, which was published in 2001.

When Does The Next Mark Billingham book come out?

Mark Billingham doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is The Wrong Hands and was released on July, 23rd 2024. It is the newest book in the Detective Miller Series.

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