Mark Billingham’s latest novel is Time of Death (Little, Brown). His previous novel, The Bones Beneath, is just out in paperback from Grove Press. A former actor, television writer and stand-up comedian, his series of novels featuring DI Tom Thorne has twice won him the Crime Novel Of The Year Award as well as the Sherlock Award for Best British Detective and been nominated for seven CWA Daggers. A television series based on the Thorne novels was screened in Autumn 2010, starring David Morrissey. His standalone thriller In The Dark was chosen as one of the 12 best books of the year by the Times and his debut novel, Sleepyhead, was chosen by the Sunday Times as one of the 100 books that had shaped the decade.
What was the first book to make an impression on you?
The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes (as read to me at school by a bored maths teacher!)
What was your favourite book as a child?
All the Famous Five and Secret Seven adventures.
And what is your favourite book or books now?
Where do I start? Anything by those crime writers who are raising the bar…
What is your favourite quotation?
If it’s going badly, get off! If it’s going well…get off!
Who is your favourite fictional character?
James Bond or The Grinch
Who is the most under-rated Irish author?
Declan Burke
Which do you prefer – ebooks or the traditional print version?
I’ve never read an ebook. Print every time.
What is the most beautiful book you own?
A first edition of To Kill A Mockingbird which I take down and stroke occasionally.
Where and how do you write?
In my office at home. I write slowly and get distracted a lot.
What book changed the way you think about fiction?
I read Jaws and The Godfather back to back one summer when I was 14 and was suddenly aware of how powerful fiction could be. Also, they both had dirty bits.
What is the most research you have done for a book?
Probably for a book called Lifeless set among London’s community of rough sleepers.
What book influenced you the most?
Dashiell Hammett: The Four Great Novels
What book would you give to a friend’s child on their 18th birthday?
The Book Of Lost Things by John Connolly
What book do you wish you had read when you were young?
I wish I’d read more classics. I’m finding it hard to catch up.
What advice would you give to an aspiring author?
Read. Work hard. Be lucky.
What weight do you give reviews?
I only ever remember the bad ones.
Where do you see the publishing industry going?
It’s in a period of major change and a lot of things will sort themselves out over the next couple of years. I think things will get tougher for writers.
What writing trends have struck you lately?
Crossover fantasy/crime fiction seems big right now. Werewolf cops, vampire cops. Cops who solve crimes with supernatural powers, which strikes me as cheating.
What lessons have you learned about life from reading?
Don’t go after big sharks in a small boat.
What has being a writer taught you?
That making stuff up for a living is just about the best job anyone could wish for.
Which writers, living or dead, would you invite to your dream dinner party?
Dashiell Hammett. Dorothy Parker. John Connolly. Gandhi (OK, not really a writer, but he wouldn’t eat much)
What is the funniest scene you’ve read?
I laughed a lot at Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen, which features a character who spends most of the book with a dead dog clamped on to his arm.
What is your favourite word?
I don’t think you could print it.
If you were to write a historical novel, which event or figure would be your subject?
I’d write a mystery set during the advent of punk, with Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious as my safety-pin wearing sleuths.
