Mark Grenside
Mark Grenside is a thriller writer known for twist-driven novels set in the high-stakes world of film. His debut, Fall Out (2021), introduces film producer Marcus Riley and Mako de Turris in a series that blends insider industry knowledge with fast-paced suspense. On July 21st 2026, two more in the series were published, The Bastion & Sunset Circus.
Before turning to fiction, Mark built an international career spanning finance, media, and entertainment. He began as a Lloyd’s of London insurance broker specialising in Kidnap, Ransom, and Extortion risk, before moving into television and film. There, he worked with Jim Henson on productions including The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth, and went on to produce and distribute projects linked to writers such as Patricia Highsmith, Robert Louis Stevenson, J.M. Barrie, and Arthur Hailey. He later played a key role in raising $250 million to acquire the international rights to the Hallmark Channel, which was subsequently sold to NBC.
His work has attracted support from leading figures in the entertainment industry, including multi-Emmy winner Robert Halmi Jr., Oscar-nominated producer Alan Moloney and bestselling author Damien Lewis. He has appeared in BBC interviews and national media, and was invited to speak at the Oxford Literary Festival in 2022.
Now based in Malta, Mark has travelled to more than 120 countries—an experience that informs the global scope of his writing. He also writes a monthly blog at www.andanotherthing.com and maintains an active presence in the creative and media industries.
Before turning to fiction, Mark built an international career spanning finance, media, and entertainment. He began as a Lloyd’s of London insurance broker specialising in Kidnap, Ransom, and Extortion risk, before moving into television and film. There, he worked with Jim Henson on productions including The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth, and went on to produce and distribute projects linked to writers such as Patricia Highsmith, Robert Louis Stevenson, J.M. Barrie, and Arthur Hailey. He later played a key role in raising $250 million to acquire the international rights to the Hallmark Channel, which was subsequently sold to NBC.
His work has attracted support from leading figures in the entertainment industry, including multi-Emmy winner Robert Halmi Jr., Oscar-nominated producer Alan Moloney and bestselling author Damien Lewis. He has appeared in BBC interviews and national media, and was invited to speak at the Oxford Literary Festival in 2022.
Now based in Malta, Mark has travelled to more than 120 countries—an experience that informs the global scope of his writing. He also writes a monthly blog at www.andanotherthing.com and maintains an active presence in the creative and media industries.
Fall Out
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Thriller
When LA screenwriter Sam Wood is murdered days after finishing his new script, down-on-his-luck British producer Marcus Riley is stunned to receive a copy in the mail. FALL OUT is more than a screenplay, it's a message from an old friend, seeded with clues to a mystery Marcus thought long buried: the disastrous production of THE LAST COMPANY and the disappearance of its stunt coordinator twenty years earlier. Drawn in alongside Cannes-based designer Melinda 'Mako' de Turris, Marcus follows the trail from Los Angeles to the Cannes Film Festival, the Swiss Alps and the Philippines, uncovering a real-life mystery, Yamashita's Gold, the fortune in plundered treasure the Japanese army hid across the Philippines at the end of the Second World War, and Nu-Shu, the secret script once used only by women in Hunan province. As old alliances unravel and a ruthless fixer closes in, Marcus and Mako must solve Sam's puzzle before it gets them killed too. 
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The Bastion
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Thriller
When kidnap and ransom negotiator Timo Glock steals a classified list of the world’s most heavily insured individuals, he crosses a line. Hidden inside the frame of a Hollywood blockbuster, using cutting edge steganography, the list makes its way into a secretive Maltese data vault known as “The Bastion”, whose only deposits are photographs. British movie producer Marcus Riley and his partner, Mako de Turris, find their big budget movie at the heart of a conspiracy that reaches from California to the Mediterranean. The movie’s female star is abducted to the underground tunnels of Valletta, as she unwittingly holds the key to the criminal gang’s ultimate plans. With time running out, Marcus and Mako travel to Malta to locate her. They uncover a plot to sell the stolen list to criminal syndicates, who will seize those insured for a guaranteed payout. Marcus must decide who to trust before the Bastion’s digital goldmine is unleashed as those who control its secrets will do anything to protect them. 
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Sunset Circus
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Thriller
Producer Marcus Riley believes dangerous stories belong on screen. That changes when Charlie Foster, a former Hollywood prop buyer now scraping by on Venice Beach, presses a riddle into his hand. Hours later, Charlie is found dead outside Sunset Circus, a pawn shop in Los Angeles. When the police start asking questions, Marcus realises Charlie's puzzle points to the Miksas, a Nevada crime family who rule on two buried secrets: a fortune in Romanov treasure smuggled out of Russia by Olga Miksa's father, and an act of Cold War betrayal that bought the family's immunity from East and West alike. With his partner, designer Melinda 'Mako' de Turris, Marcus follows the trail into the Nevada desert, uncovering an assault on Charlie's daughter at The Mighty Bison casino and the theft of an artefact the Miksas must recover, one that ties back to the lost Tobolsk urns and the Eremin Letters, and forward to Stalin's darkest secret. Olga and her daughter Lexi Miksa will do whatever it takes to hold on to power, and the deeper Marcus and Mako dig, the higher the body count climbs. Riley digs into the past, but he could end up digging a grave for himself. 
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