A CRIME novelist took a trip to St Albans last weekend to meet his fans at a charity book shop. Mark Billingham, creator of the series of crime novels featuring detective Tom Thorne, stopped off at the Oxfam bookshop on Catherine Street on Saturday as par

A CRIME novelist took a trip to St Albans last weekend to meet his fans at a charity book shop.

Mark Billingham, creator of the series of crime novels featuring detective Tom Thorne, stopped off at the Oxfam bookshop on Catherine Street on Saturday as part of the charity's annual Bookfest, a nationwide book festival running this month.

Mark, who is currently working on his eighth Tom Thorne novel, signed copies of his books and answered questions from the crowd of people at the afternoon event.

Shop manager Pauline Wilby said that Mark was the perfect guest: "He spent ages talking to our customers about writing and researching and he even brought in some rare editions of his Tom Thorne books for the fans to see. It was a great day and we'd be more than happy to see Mark return to the store.