Killing Time

Mark Billingham, Vanda Symon & Paul Cleave

The appetite for crime fiction, the darker the better, continues to grow as readers demand ever more devious plots, damaged characters and dastardly deeds. What are the demands on crime writers and how do they live a normal life when their heads are full of murder and mayhemfi

Mark Billingham is one of Britain’s most acclaimed and popular crime writers. His series of London-based novels featuring DI Tom Thorne has won him the Sherlock Award and the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year Award. Each book, from his debut Sleepyhead, to the most recent, Death Message, has been a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller. In the Dark is the title of his newly published standalone thriller.

Vanda Symon is the author of Overkill, the fi rst in a series of novels about Detective Sam Shephard. Her new novel, The Ringmaster, has just been released. She hosts a monthly radio show in Dunedin called Write On, focusing on writers and the world of books.

Paul Cleave’s debut crime novel, The Cleaner, was released to outstanding reviews and made the New Zealand Listener Best Books of 2006 list. It has subsequently become an international bestseller, selling over 250,000 copies. He has followed this early success with The Killing Hour and his latest, Cemetery Lake.