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Mick Herron

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Mick Herron at St Cecilia's Hall, Edinburgh

Mick Herron is a British mystery and thriller novelist. He is the author of the Slough House series, early novels of which have been adapted for the Slow Horses television series. He won the Crime Writers' Association 2013 Gold Dagger award for Dead Lions.

Early life

Herron was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he earned a degree in English.[1][2][3]

Career

Location of the fictional Slough House (Aldersgate Street, London)

In 2003, Heron published his first novel, Down Cemetery Road. It was the first volume in a four-book series about Zoë Boehm, an Oxford private detective.[4]

In 2010, he began the Slough House spy series with the first volume Slow Horses. The series concerns MI5 agents who have been exiled from the agency mainstream for various failures. The second volume, Dead Lions, published in 2013, won the Crime Writers' Association 2013 Gold Dagger award.[2] Herron has stated that the lead character, Jackson Lamb, was influenced by Reginald Hill's Andy Dalziel.[5][6] As of December 2022, the series includes eight novels, plus several associated novellas, and events in related novels. Early volumes have also been adapted for television.

Slow Horses was published by Constable in 2010, but the firm declined the opportunity to publish the next book in the series in the United Kingdom due to disappointing sales of its predecessor. Soho published the Slough House novels in the United States, and John Murray started republishing the series in the UK from 2015.[7]

Herron's short stories have been regularly published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and some are collected in the book, All the Livelong Day, published in 2013.

Bibliography

Zoë Boehm series

  • Down Cemetery Road (2003)
  • The Last Voice You Hear (2004)
  • Why We Die (2006)
  • Smoke and Whispers (2009)

The Slough House series (Jackson Lamb)

  • Slow Horses (2010)
  • Dead Lions (2013)
  • The List (2015 novella)
  • Real Tigers (2016)
  • Spook Street (2017)[8]
  • London Rules (2018)
  • The Drop (US title: The Marylebone Drop) (2018 novella)
  • Joe Country (2019)
  • The Catch (2020 novella)
  • Slough House (2021)
  • Bad Actors (2022)
  • Standing by the Wall (2022 novella)

Standalone novels

  • Reconstruction (2008)
  • Nobody Walks (2015)
  • This Is What Happened (2018)
  • The Secret Hours (2023)

Although not part of the Slough House series, Reconstruction, Nobody Walks and The Secret Hours use some of the same characters and provide some character backstory. In story terms, Reconstruction is set before Slow Horses, whereas Nobody Walks comes after The List and before Spook Street. The Secret Hours is set around the time of or after Bad Actors but includes a section set well before the series begins.

Short story collections

  • All the Livelong Day (2013)
  • Dolphin Junction (2021)

Featuring five standalone crime fiction stories complemented by four mystery stories featuring Zoë Boehm and Joe Silvermann. The collection also includes tales with Jackson Lamb of Slough House.[9]

  • Standing by the Wall: The Collected Slough House Novellas (2022)

Includes all novellas in the Slough House series published as of 2022.

Adaptation

The Slough House series has been adapted for television under the name Slow Horses, starring Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb,[3] with the first six-part season, based on the book Slow Horses, streamed on Apple TV+ from 1 April 2022. The second season, based on Dead Lions, was filmed back-to-back with the first and premiered on 2 December 2022.[10] It was announced in June 2022 that further seasons, adapting Real Tigers and Spook Street, had been greenlit.[11]

Awards

Personal life

Herron lives in Oxford.[2] He enjoys playing squash.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Mick Herron (Author of Slow Horses)". Goodreads.com. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Dead Lions — The Crime Writers' Association". Thecwa.co.uk. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  3. ^ a b Higgins, Charlotte (15 January 2021). "Mick Herron: 'I look at Jackson Lamb and think: My God, did I write that? My mother reads this stuff!'". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  4. ^ "Zoë Boehm Thrillers". Mick Herron website. 16 February 2022. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  5. ^ Mick Herron. "Crime writer Mick Herron: 'I don't know my hero's backstory yet' | Books". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  6. ^ "If you read one spy novel this year, read Real Tigers". Spectator.co.uk. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  7. ^ Nicol, Patricia (4 February 2018). "the UK's new spy master". The Sunday Times. London. pp. 20–21.
  8. ^ "Mick Herron". Mick Herron. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  9. ^ "Dolphin Junction: Stories by Mick Herron: 9781641293020 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  10. ^ "Apple's hit espionage drama "Slow Horses" debuts season two trailer". Apple.com. 19 October 2022.
  11. ^ "'Slow Horses' Renewed Through Season 4 at Apple TV+". The Hollywood Reporter. 1 June 2022. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  12. ^ "Harper, McKinty shortlisted for Theakston Old Peculier crime award". Books+Publishing. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  13. ^ "Robotham shortlisted for CWA Gold Dagger". Books+Publishing. 14 August 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  14. ^ "10 Questions with Mick Herron |". Ethanjonesbooks.wordpress.com. 7 May 2013. Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
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