Mick Herron

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Herron's career began as a subeditor at IDS Employment Law Brief, a trade journal on U.K. employment law. He commuted from Oxford to London daily, returned home around 6 p.m., and wrote for an hour. In 2002, Herron had an office on a floor with few people, eventually hot-desking on a floor with hundreds of people. He left IDS Employment Law Brief around 2015 or 2016. After the 7 July 2005 London bombings, as a London-Oxford commuter, he wanted to write about the UK security services. 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. Herron has stated that the lead character, Jackson Lamb, was influenced by Reginald Hill's Andy Dalziel. As of early 2025, the series includes nine novels, plus several associated novellas. Early volumes were adapted for television as *Slow Horses*. *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. Soho Press published the Slough House novels in the United States, and John Murray started republishing the series in the UK from 2015. Herron's short stories have been regularly published in *Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine*; a collection titled *All the Livelong Day* was published in 2024 by Baskerville, a John Murray imprint. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2024.

In Their Own Story

Herron published his first novel, *Down Cemetery Road*, in 2003. It was the first volume in a four-book series about Zoë Boehm, an Oxford private detective. The second volume of the Slough House series, *Dead Lions*, published in 2013, won the Crime Writers' Association 2013 Gold Dagger. The Slough House series has been adapted for television under the name *Slow Horses*, starring Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, 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. It was announced in June 2022 that further seasons, adapting *Real Tigers* and *Spook Street*, had been greenlit. Season 3, based on *Real Tigers*, premiered on Apple TV+ on 29 November 2023. Season 5, based on *London Rules*, premiered on Apple TV+ on 24 September 2025. An Apple TV+ adaptation of *Down Cemetery Road* starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson was released in October 2025. The second season was announced by Apple TV on 12 December 2025.

Reader's Guide

Herron's bibliography includes the Zoë Boehm series: *Down Cemetery Road* (2003), *The Last Voice You Hear* (2004), *Why We Die* (2006), and *Smoke and Whispers* (2009). The Slough House series includes multiple novels and novellas. Standalone novels include *Reconstruction* (2008), *Nobody Walks* (2015), *This Is What Happened* (2018), and *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. *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 before the series begins. Short story collections include *All the Livelong Day* (2013), *Dolphin Junction* (2021), and *Standing by the Wall: The Collected Slough House Novellas* (2022). *Dolphin Junction* features five standalone crime fiction stories complemented by four mystery stories featuring characters Zoë Boehm and Joe Silvermann, and also includes tales with Jackson Lamb of Slough House. *Standing by the Wall: The Collected Slough House Novellas* includes all novellas in the Slough House series published as of 2022. 'Proof of Love', 'Mirror Images', and 'The Other Half' are set before *Down Cemetery Road*, whereas 'What We Do' comes after *Why We Die*.

Did You Know?

• Herron was a subeditor at IDS Employment Law Brief, a trade journal on U.K. employment law, and commuted from Oxford to London daily, writing for an hour after returning home around 6 p.m.
• After the 7 July 2005 London bombings, as a London-Oxford commuter, Herron wanted to write about the UK security services, leading to the Slough House series.
• Herron has stated that the lead character, Jackson Lamb, was influenced by Reginald Hill's Andy Dalziel.
• Constable declined to publish the second Slough House book in the UK due to disappointing sales of *Slow Horses*; Soho Press published the series in the US, and John Murray started republishing in the UK from 2015.
• Herron was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2024.