Order of Book Series
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Tom Thorne Books in Order

Tom Thorne by Mark Billingham contains 20 books, published between 2001 and 2025. The first book is Sleepyhead (2001) and the newest is What the Night Brings (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
20
Published
2001–2025
Confirmed
20 of 20 titles
Pages on record
6,516 in 16 of 20 books
Reading time
109–163 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 6,516 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 16 of 20 titles with a page count on record.

See all 20 books in order Printable Tom Thorne checklist

Tom Thorne is a police procedural series by Mark Billingham, featuring the London detective of the same name. Serial murder investigations in London and elsewhere in Great Britain supply the subject matter. The series opens with Sleepyhead (2001), runs to 20 books, and reached What the Night Brings in 2025. Mark Billingham is still adding to it.

How many Tom Thorne books are there?

Tom Thorne has 20 books, released between 2001 and 2025.

Tom Thorne Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 20 Tom Thorne books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham, book 1 of the Tom Thorne series (2001)
  2. Cover of Scaredy Cat by Mark Billingham, book 2 of the Tom Thorne series (2001)
  3. Cover of Lazybones by Mark Billingham, book 3 of the Tom Thorne series (2003)
  4. Cover of Lifeless by Mark Billingham, book 5 of the Tom Thorne series (2005)
  5. Cover of Buried by Mark Billingham, book 6 of the Tom Thorne series (2006)
  6. Cover of Bloodline by Mark Billingham, book 8 of the Tom Thorne series (2009)
  7. Cover of From The Dead by Mark Billingham, book 9 of the Tom Thorne series (2010)
  8. Cover of Good as Dead / The Demands by Mark Billingham, book 10 of the Tom Thorne series (2011)
  9. Cover of The Dying Hours by Mark Billingham, book 11 of the Tom Thorne series (2013)
  10. Cover of The Bones Beneath by Mark Billingham, book 13 of the Tom Thorne series (2014)
  11. Cover of Love Like Blood by Mark Billingham, book 15 of the Tom Thorne series (2017)
  12. Cover of The Killing Habit by Mark Billingham, book 16 of the Tom Thorne series (2018)
  13. Cover of Their Little Secret by Mark Billingham, book 17 of the Tom Thorne series (2019)
  14. Cover of Cry Baby by Mark Billingham, book 18 of the Tom Thorne series (2020)
  15. Cover of The Murder Book by Mark Billingham, book 19 of the Tom Thorne series (2022)
  1. 1
    Sleepyhead2001 · 310 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2001310
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Scaredy Cat2001 · 365 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2001365
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Lazybones2003 · 432 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2003432
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    The Burning Girl2004 · confirmed 3/4
    2004–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    Lifeless2005 · 451 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2005451
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Buried2006 · 448 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2006448
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Death Message2007 · 400 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2007400
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    Bloodline2009 · 368 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2009368
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    From The Dead2010 · 496 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2010496
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    Good as Dead / The Demands2011 · 394 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2011394
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    The Dying Hours2013 · 390 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2013390
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    Thorne at Christmas2013 · confirmed 3/4
    2013–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    The Bones Beneath2014 · 391 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2014391
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    Time of Death2015 · 400 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2015400
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    Love Like Blood2017 · 422 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2017422
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    The Killing Habit2018 · 417 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2018417
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    Their Little Secret2019 · 400 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2019400
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    Cry Baby2020 · 432 pages · confirmed 3/4
    2020432
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 19
    The Murder Book2022 · confirmed 3/4
    2022–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  20. 20
    What the Night Brings2025 · confirmed 3/4
    2025–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Tom Thorne Books in Chronological Order

By publication date, the Tom Thorne books run from Sleepyhead (2001) to What the Night Brings (2025), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Tom Thorne in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.

Do you have to read Tom Thorne books in order?

You should read the Tom Thorne books in publication order, the order of the numbered table above. The catalogue does not record whether each Tom Thorne book also stands alone.

Where to start with Tom Thorne

Start with Sleepyhead (2001), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Tom Thorne book?

What the Night Brings (2025) is the newest Tom Thorne book released so far.

Is there a new Tom Thorne book coming?

No next Tom Thorne book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Tom Thorne at a glance

Still running
Tom Thorne is still running, with a title published as recently as 2025.
Release pace
Tom Thorne books have appeared about one a year on average.
Length
6,516 pages across the 16 of 20 books with a recorded length, a median of 400 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Tom Thorne books, 9 of 20, were published in the 2010s.

What the Tom Thorne books are about

17 of the 20 Tom Thorne books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: police is tagged on 12 of 17. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.

More books by Mark Billingham

The author page linked below lists every book in publication order.