David spent more than fifteen years as a journalist, including seven years as a crime reporter with the Yorkshire Post – walking the Hull streets that would later become the setting for the Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy novels. His first historical novel, The Zealot’s Bones, is released in the Autumn.

Crime / Historical

He has written six novels in the McAvoy series: Dark Winter, Original Skin, Sorrow Bound, Taking Pity, Dead Pretty and Cruel Mercy, as well as a McAvoy novella, A Bad Death, which is available as an ebook.

Dark Winter was selected for the Harrogate New Blood panel and was a Richard & Judy pick and a Sunday Times bestseller. He is a regular on the festival and library circuit.

Hugely experienced speaker, guest lecturer and panel chair having taken part in literary festivals and library events across the UK and beyond. regular radio contributor (BBC regional stations and Radio Four).

Highly entertaining – The Sunday Times

Effortlessly blends the brutal and the tender, the dark and the light. Aector McAvoy is a true original. So is David Mark. – Mick Herron, author of Dead Lions

To call Mark’s novels police procedurals is like calling the Mona Lisa a pretty painting. Beautifully crafted, filled with flashbacks, horror, angst, and chilling detail, this one is his most complex and best yet – Kirkus starred review

More twists and turns than a corkscrew through the eyeball – Val McDermid

Dark, compelling crime writing of the highest order – Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail

McAvoy must be one of the most fascinating fictional detectives out there – a true original. This is an intoxicating brew – Catholicism, travellers, underground fight scenes, the mob – and rumbling through it all like a bear with a blush is DS Aector McAvoy. Superb writing. A truly fantastic read – Michael J Malone, author of A Suitable Lie

David Mark takes McAvoy to the US on a rollercoaster ride into darkness. Brilliantly written and compelling – Steve Cavanagh

Truly exhilarating and inventive. Mark is a wonderfully descriptive writer and an exciting young talent – Peter James

In McAvoy, David Mark has created a big hero with a huge heart. His skill at weaving threads of light through the darkest fabric has rightly won him a legion of fans who like their crime fiction to be real and compassionate – Sarah Hilary

Mark’s rich, distinctive prose style and damaged characters compel you to keep reading… shaping up to be an essential crime series – Crime Scene Magazine

Aficionados of the grittiest, most trenchant fare love Mark’s copper Aector McAvoy, who customarily moves in a darkly realised Hull – Financial Times

There is a good array of villains, and Mark is impressive in his sensitive portrayals of the relationships between the principal characters at work and home – The Times

The McAvoy series pulls off the double whammy of cracking characters and cunning plots. The big detective Aector McAvoy is so real and so loveable you want to have a pint with him, and the legendary Trish Pharaoh proves that a man can create an utterly compelling female character – Anya Lipska

The exceptional McAvoy series just got better. DEAD PRETTY is a gripping thriller…proof that David Mark is up there with the best – Mari Hannah, author of the Kate Daniels series

Breathtaking. Mark writes bad beautifully – Peter May

As with previous books, there are plenty of grim events to balance the warmth which surrounds the leading character – Crime Review

Happy to cater for any and all sizes

Happy to cater for all age groups

English

Happy to travel anywhere if expenses are paid

Appearances can be tailored for specific groups. In-depth and studious bootcamps for writers or light-hearted examinations of the varied routes to publication.