A subeditor who wrote fiction on the side for years, he created the failed MI5 spies of Slough House, now Apple TV's Slow Horses.
The ninth Slough House novel, published in the US by Soho Crime on Sept. 9, 2025.7 River Cartwright looks into a book missing from his late grandfather's library while Diana Taverner turns a blackmail threat over a Troubles-era operation to her advantage.8
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Mick Herron was born on July 11, 1963, in Newcastle upon Tyne,4 one of six children of an optician and a nursery-school teacher.2 He read English at Balliol College, Oxford.2
He wrote poetry for some years before turning to fiction.1 For most of his writing life he worked as a subeditor at IDS Employment Law Brief, a London trade journal, commuting each day from Oxford.2 His first novel, Down Cemetery Road, came out in 2003 and began a series of four books about Zoë Boehm, an Oxford private detective.2 He also wrote short stories, many for Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.1
Slow Horses (2010) introduced Slough House, where MI5 sends agents who have been exiled from the mainstream, under the command of Jackson Lamb.4 Constable published it but turned down the next book; Soho Press published the series in the US, and John Murray began republishing it in the UK in 2015.2 The second novel, Dead Lions, won the Crime Writers’ Association’s Gold Dagger in 2013,3 and he left his subediting job in 2017.2 The series has grown to nine novels, through Clown Town in 2025, plus novellas set in the same world.13
Apple TV+ began streaming Slow Horses, with Gary Oldman as Lamb, on April 1, 2022.2 In January 2025 the Crime Writers’ Association gave him its Diamond Dagger, its highest honour, and its chair, Vaseem Khan, said the Slough House novels had reinvented the spy thriller.5 In October 2025 Apple TV+ added Down Cemetery Road, with Emma Thompson as Zoë Boehm.11
In order of first publication. Each series is kept together, in reading order, starting where its first book appeared. Titles, series order and first-publication years from Herron's own site and the bibliography in his Wikipedia entry; US ISBNs from Penguin Random House's Soho Crime sales sheets.1367
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Numbered in the reading order Wikipedia gives, with the novellas between the novels.3 The standalones Reconstruction, Nobody Walks and The Secret Hours share the setting.2
Hachette published Watch the Quiet Snow in the UK, a collection of the Slough House novellas The List, The Drop, The Catch, The Last Dead Letter and Standing by the Wall.9
The sixth season of Slow Horses premiered on Apple TV, after a world premiere at TIFF in Toronto on Sept. 11.13 TV Insider reported that the season draws on Joe Country and Slough House.14
Apple TV announced a second season of Down Cemetery Road, its adaptation of Herron's first Zoë Boehm novel.12
Apple TV+ series starring Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb; its first three seasons, from April 2022 to November 2023, adapted Slow Horses, Dead Lions and Real Tigers,2 and the fifth, from September 2025, adapted London Rules.3 The sixth season premiered on Sept. 16, 2026,13 drawing on Joe Country and Slough House, according to TV Insider.14
Eight-episode Apple TV+ series written by Morwenna Banks, starring Emma Thompson as Zoë Boehm and Ruth Wilson, which ran from Oct. 29 to Dec. 10, 2025.11 A second season was announced on Dec. 12, 2025.12
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne.4
Publishes his first novel, Down Cemetery Road, the first of four books about Oxford private detective Zoë Boehm.2
Slow Horses begins the Slough House series.2
Dead Lions wins the CWA Gold Dagger.3
Resigns from his subediting job to write full time.2
Apple TV+ begins streaming Slow Horses, starring Gary Oldman.2
The Crime Writers' Association names him its 2025 Diamond Dagger recipient.5
Clown Town, the ninth Slough House novel, is published in the US.7
Apple TV+ premieres Down Cemetery Road, starring Emma Thompson as Zoë Boehm.11
Watch the Quiet Snow, the collected Slough House novellas, is published in the UK.9
Watch the Quiet Snow, his newest book, was published in the UK on Oct. 22, 2026,9 and a second season of Down Cemetery Road has been announced.12