Mark Billingham was born and brought up in Birmingham. Having worked for some years as an actor and more recently as a TV writer and stand-up comedian his first crime novel was published in 2001.

Sleepyhead was an instant bestseller in the UK. It has been sold widely throughout the world and was published in the USA in the summer of 2002.

The series of crime novels featuring London-based detective Tom Thorne continued with Scaredy Cat and was followed by Lazybones, The Burning Girl, Lifeless, Buried, Death Message, Bloodline, From The Dead, Good As Dead, The Dying Hours, The Bones Beneath and the most recent, Time Of Death. Mark is also the author of the standalone novels In The Dark and Rush Of Blood, as well as a series of children’s thrillers ­ Triskellion ­ written under the pseudonym Will Peterson.

An acclaimed television series based on the Thorne novels was screened on Sky One in Autumn 2010, starring David Morrissey as Tom Thorne. A new series, based on the novels In The Dark and Time Of Death is currently being made and will be screened on BBC1 in 2016.

Mark lives in London with his wife and two children. He is currently writing his next novel.