New Releases by Mark Billingham

Some fires never go out ... X marks the spot -- and when that spot is a corpse''s naked back and the X is carved in blood, Detective Inspector 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. Organized crime boss Billy Ryan is moving into someone else''s territory, and that someone is ready to stand up for what he believes is his. Thorne''s got plenty on his plate when he agrees to help out ex-DCI Carol Chamberlain rake through the ashes of an old case that has come back to haunt her. Schoolgirl Jessica Clarke was lit on fire twenty years ago. Now, Gordon Rooker, the man Chamberlain put away for the crime, is up for parole, and it seems there''s a copycat on the prowl. Or perhaps it''s someone trying to right a serious wrong: Jessica Clarke was the victim of mistaken identity. The intended target was the daughter of a gangland boss, a woman who would grow up to marry the current leader, Billy Ryan ... Thorne quickly identifies a tenuous link between the two crimes, and past and present fuse together to form a new, horrifying riddle. One that involves more killings, violence, greed, and a murderous family with no values -- except gain at any price. When an X is carved into his front door, Tom Thorne realizes that fires, once thought to be out, continue to burn.

The eighth book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham. When a dead body is found in a North London flat, it seems like a straightforward domestic murder until a bloodstained sliver of X-ray is found clutched in the dead woman''s fist - and it quickly becomes clear that this case is anything but ordinary. DI Thorne discovers that the victim''s mother had herself been murdered fifteen years before by infamous serial killer Raymond Garvey. The hunt to catch Garvey was one of the biggest in the history of the Met, and ended with seven women dead. When more bodies and more fragments of X-ray are discovered, Thorne has a macabre jigsaw to piece together until the horrifying picture finally emerges. A killer is targeting the children of Raymond Garvey''s victims. Thorne must move quickly to protect those still on the murderer''s list, but nothing and nobody are what they seem. Not when Thorne is dealing with one of the most twisted killers he has ever hunted... ________________ The outstanding new Tom Thorne thriller, THEIR LITTLE SECRET, is out now!

A collection of short crime fiction by well known crime writers. Proceeds benefit Breast Cancer Research

The seventh book in the Tom Thorne series, from bestselling author Mark Billingham. THE MESSAGE DI Tom Thorne has seen plenty of dead bodies in his time. But when he starts receiving sick photos of murder victims on his mobile phone, he soon realises that the next body could be his. THE KILLER And even when the man who has been sending the photos is tracked down, the deadly threat remains, For some, the case is all but closed, but Thorne''s nightmare is just beginning. THE TWIST Because someone else is masterminding the death messages. The most vicious psychopath Thorne has ever faced is able to manipulate others even behind bars, and time has only deepened the deadly grudge he has against the policeman who put him away... ________________ The outstanding new Tom Thorne thriller, THEIR LITTLE SECRET, is out now!

The second book in the Tom Thorne series from bestselling author Mark Billingham, Scaredy Cat is a gripping, chilling tour-de-force; a book to keep you reading until deep into the night. ''Assured and shocking'' Guardian It was a vicious, calculated murder. The killer selected his victim at Euston station, followed her home on the tube, strangled her to death in front of her child. At the same time, killed in the same way, a second body is discovered at the back of King''s Cross station. And this grisly event eerily echoes the murder of two other women, stabbed to death months before on the same day. It is DI Tom Thorne who sees the link and comes to the horrifying conclusion. This is not a serial killer the police are up against. This is two of them - and two killers are way more deadly than one . . . __________ Read what everyone''s saying about the heart-racing Tom Thorne series: ''Literary superstar'' Mail on Sunday ''Ingenious'' Guardian ''Ground-breaking'' Sunday Times ''Mark Billingham gets better and better'' Michael Connelly ''A cracking read . . . I couldn''t put it down!'' Shari Lapena ''A damn fine storyteller'' Karin Slaughter ''Twisted and twisty'' Linwood Barclay ''One of the most consistently entertaining, insightful crime writers working today'' Gillian Flynn ''The next superstar detective is already with us. Don''t miss him'' Lee Child

A stunning 20th anniversary paperback edition of the groundbreaking first Tom Thorne novel, a case that changed crime fiction forever . . . Alison Willetts has survived a stroke, deliberately induced by a skilful manipulation of pressure points on the head and neck. She can see, hear and feel but she is completely unable to move or communicate. In leaving Alison Willetts alive, the police believe the killer''s made his first mistake. Then DI Tom Thorne discovers the horrifying truth: it isn''t Alison who is the mistake, it''s the three women already dead. Thorne must find a killer whose agenda is disturbingly unique, and Alison, the one person who holds the key to the killer''s identity, is unable to say anything . . . ''One of my favourite authors'' Harlan Coben ''A terrifically stylish debut novel'' Independent on Sunday ''The next superstar detective'' Lee Child

Winner of the Crime Novel of the Year, Lazybones is the third novel in the bestselling Tom Thorne series, a shocking, unputdownable novel from the master of psychological thrills. ''Never loosens its grip on your throat'' Daily Mail It''s only ten days since Douglas Remfry''s release from prison, having served seven years for rape, and now he''s dead: naked on a bare mattress in a grubby north London hotel room, his head hooded and his hands tied with a brown leather belt. Someone knew he was coming out. Someone wanted to mete out some punishment of his own. And when a second sex offender is found dead, DI Tom Thorne knows he has a vicious, calculating vigilante on his hands... __________ Read what everyone''s saying about the heart-racing Tom Thorne series: ''Literary superstar'' Mail on Sunday ''Ingenious'' Guardian ''Ground-breaking'' Sunday Times ''Mark Billingham gets better and better'' Michael Connelly ''A cracking read . . . I couldn''t put it down!'' Shari Lapena ''A damn fine storyteller'' Karin Slaughter ''Twisted and twisty'' Linwood Barclay ''One of the most consistently entertaining, insightful crime writers working today'' Gillian Flynn ''The next superstar detective is already with us. Don''t miss him'' Lee Child

A uniquely disturbing thriller from the bestselling creator of the Inspector Thorne novels

When the son of a former high-ranking police officer goes missing, Detective Inspector Tom Thorne finds himself in a grisly maze of past cases that places him in the direct path of a killer.