Herron was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he earned a degree in English.[1][2][3] He is one of six children; his father was an optician and his mother a nursery-school teacher.[4]
Herron commuted from Oxford to London daily, returned home around 6 p.m., and wrote for an hour.[7] In 2002, Herron had an office on a floor with few people, eventually hot-desking on a floor with hundreds of people.[7] Herron resigned from IDS Employment Law Brief in 2017.[5]
"The larger the organization was that I worked for, the less concern it had for the people working for it."[7] - Mick Herron
In 2003, Herron published his first novel, Down Cemetery Road. It was the first volume in a four-book series about Zoë Boehm, an Oxford private detective.[8]
"I wanted to write about a bunch of people who were forced to work together who were thwarted by life and having a terrible time with their careers"[9] - Mick Herron
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.[2] Herron has stated that the lead character, Jackson Lamb, was influenced by Reginald Hill's Andy Dalziel.[13][14]As of December2022[update], the series includes eight novels, plus several associated novellas, and events in related novels. Early volumes have also been 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 of its predecessor. Soho Press published the Slough House novels in the United States, and John Murray started republishing the series in the UK from 2015.[15]
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.
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.
Reconstruction (2008)
Nobody Walks (2015)
This Is What Happened (2018)
The Secret Hours (2023)
Short story collections
Dolphin Junction features five standalone crime fiction stories complemented by four mystery stories featuring Zoë Boehm and Joe Silvermann. It also includes tales with Jackson Lamb of Slough House.[20]Standing by the Wall: The Collected Slough House Novellas includes all novellas in the Slough House series published as of 2022. In story terms, Proof of Love, Mirror Images and The Other Half are set before Down Cemetery Road, whereas What We Do comes after Why We Die.
All the Livelong Day (2013)
"All the Livelong Day"
"The Usual Santas"
"Proof of Love" (Zoë Boehm)
"Mirror Images" (Zoë Boehm)
"Lost Luggage"
Dolphin Junction (2021)
"Proof of Love" (Zoë Boehm)
"Remote Control"
"Luggage"
"Mirror Images" (Zoë Boehm)
"Junction"
"An American Fridge"
"The Other Half" (Zoë Boehm)
"All the Livelong Day"
"The Last Dead Letter" (Slough House)
"The Usual Santas"
"What We Do" (Zoë Boehm)
Standing by the Wall: The Collected Slough House Novellas (2022)
The List (2015)
The Drop (US title: The Marylebone Drop) (2018)
The Catch (2020)
The Last Dead Letter (2020)
Standing by the Wall (2022)
Adaptations
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.[21] It was announced in June 2022 that further seasons, adapting Real Tigers and Spook Street, had been greenlit.[22] Season 3, based on Real Tigers, premiered on Apple TV+ 29 November 2023.[23]
Herron lives in Oxford, England.[2] He enjoys playing squash.[29] His partner is Jo Howard, a 'headhunter for the publishing industry'[5] and 'leadership development consultant',[30] formerly a Commercial Director at Waterstones Booksellers.
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