Top 66 Quotes by Mark Billingham

About Mark Billingham

These are some quotes by English author Mark Billingham Novelist, who was born on July 2, 1961.

In America, they have specialist mystery book stores with whole sections devoted to cat mysteries, golf mysteries, quilting mysteries. It's a hugely broad genre from the darkest noir to tales of a 19th-century vet who solves crimes, thanks to his talking cat.

Mark Billingham

The fact is that most crime novels contain a good many punchlines. They are just rather darker than the ones you might hear in a comedy club.

The fact is that most crime novels contain a good many punchlines. They are just rather darker than the ones you might hear in a comedy club.

Mark Billingham

All writers I know are readers first and foremost, and that's why you become a writer.

All writers I know are readers first and foremost, and that's why you become a writer.

Mark Billingham

I think women tend to write about how violence feels, whereas men tend to write about what violence looks like.

I think women tend to write about how violence feels, whereas men tend to write about what violence looks like.

Mark Billingham

I do have a touch of OCD, and I used to obsess about research. But I'm better than I was. Gone are the days when I would drive to a set of traffic lights to find out if you could turn left. I finally realised it didn't matter. A book will not stand or fall on whether or not there's a branch of Starbucks in Brixton.

Mark Billingham

I admire writers such as Elmore Leonard who can nail a character in three or four lines of dialogue, so he doesn't need pages of back story or clumsy exposition.

I admire writers such as Elmore Leonard who can nail a character in three or four lines of dialogue, so he doesn't need pages of back story or clumsy exposition.

Mark Billingham

In the 1970s, there was a trend for all detectives on TV to have some quirk or gimmick, and this was often physical.

In the 1970s, there was a trend for all detectives on TV to have some quirk or gimmick, and this was often physical.

Mark Billingham

I am trying to give the best performance possible in 400 pages. I want readers to be scared; I want them to be moved. Entertainment doesn't necessarily mean something trivial, but it does mean people wanting to get to the end of a book.

Mark Billingham

I moved from acting to stand-up because castings are just about what you look like. It doesn't matter if you can act or not. In comedy, no one cares what you look like.

I moved from acting to stand-up because castings are just about what you look like. It doesn't matter if you can act or not. In comedy, no one cares what you look like.

Mark Billingham

There are a number of writers who believe it is their duty to throw as many curve balls at the reader as possible. To twist and twist again. These are the Chubby Checkers of crime fiction and, while I admire the craft, I think that it can actually work against genuine suspense.

Mark Billingham

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