Mark Billingham

View Reviews of books by Mark Billingham

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Mark Billingham

Mark Billingham was born and brought up in Birmingham. He worked for some years as an actor and as a stand-up comedian. His first crime novel, Sleepyhead, was published in 2001. Apart from the London-based Tom Thorne series, which have been adapted for TV, Mark is also the author of two standalone novels, as well as a series of children’s thrillers, Triskellion, written under the pseudonym Will Peterson. Mark lives in London with his wife and two children.

Interviewed 08 May 2015

Ten words to sum up your working life to date ...

Butlins. Misery. Acting. Comedy. Showing-off. Scribbling. Lucky. Busy. Still…showing-off.

Nine things you can see from where you're sitting ...

A stuffed puffin. A set of goalposts. A replica of the Maltese Falcon. A skull paperweight. A Johnny Cash action figure. A shed. A radio. A Get Carter poster. A whiteboard. A Lucinda Williams CD.

Eight minutes to prepare a meal. What's it going to be ?

Something involving pasta and spicy sausage. Always spicy sausage.

Seven people you'd like to go for a drink with ...

Elvis Costello. Tina Fey. Dashiell Hammett (might be tricky). Morrissey (I won’t mention the sausage). Steve Bull. Hank Williams (again, tricky). Sarah Silverman.

Six things you can't live without ...

My family. Music. Movies. Poker. Books. Spicy sausage.

Five favourite words ...

Bibulous. Kerfuffle. Fandango. Cornucopia. Fuck.

Four places you'd run away to ...

New York. Birmingham. Sarasota, Florida. Nashville.

Three books you've bought recently ...

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright. Do No Harm by Henry Marsh. A Song Of Shadows by John Connolly (OK, so it was a free advance copy, but I wanted to mention it because it’s so good)

Two things that make you rant ...

People who throw litter from cars. UKIP.

One thing you'd tell your teenage self ...

Ignore the people who tell you to stop showing off. Oh, and don’t buy those Kickers.