Books by Mick Herron
Mick Herron is an Oxford-based British novelist. He is best known for his Slough House series, featuring a group of dysfunctional spies.
Bad Actors
by Mick Herron
Mick Herron's latest, the 8th in the Slough House series featuring dysfunctional British spies, gets into the world of politics.
The Secret Hours
by Mick Herron
☆ Shortlisted for the 2024 CWA Gold Dagger
🏆 An AudioFile Best Mystery/Suspense Audiobook of 2023
A standalone spy thriller from the author of the wildly popular Slough House series. Mick Herron is a great writer who enjoys portraying not glamorous secret agents but dysfunctional human beings. He is also a lovely man and a big supporter of local libraries.
Slow Horses
by Mick Herron
Slow Horses is a spy novel and the first book in Mick Herron’s Slough House series
“In culture, if you do something new, something original, something that hasn’t been seen before, you will be rewarded. Mick’s books are hugely popular, not just here, but everywhere and I think the principal reason for that is that he’s done something new, which is almost to send up the world of John le Carré, to satirize it. His world is located somewhere between the Circus and The Office. The books are very funny, they celebrate failure, heroism against the odds, and have an old-fashioned bawdy, music hall humor. It’s a very clever reimagining of a world that was extremely familiar to readers, from The Spy Who Came in from the Cold onwards” Read more...
The Best Post-Soviet Spy Thrillers
Charles Cumming, Novelist
Joe Country
by Mick Herron
☆ Shortlisted for the 2020 CWA Gold Dagger
Joe Country by Mick Herron is the 6th book in his Slough House series, more spy thriller than mystery book. It's an interesting, but decidedly odd, book about a set of dysfunctional spies. It was hard to tell why anyone was doing anything they were doing, which could, perhaps, be taken as a metaphor for the human condition, or alternatively, a sign that this is not a series to jump into and that you need to start at the beginning, with Slow Horses. That said, it was still an enjoyable read.
Interviews where books by Mick Herron were recommended
The Best Mystery Books of 2020
If you like mysteries, 2020 was an outstanding year, particularly in the domestic noir genre, with standouts like The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths and Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins. There were also excellent installments in existing series, whether featuring police or non-police detectives. 2020 also saw the publication of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, a publishing sensation that demonstrates the continuing demand for humorous, cozy mysteries.
The Best Post-Soviet Spy Thrillers, recommended by Charles Cumming
With the end of the Soviet Union, many thought the spy novel was dead. Within a decade, it was back, with old antagonists back in different guises and a new raft of international flashpoints to keep both fictional and real-life spies busy. Here, British spy novelist Charles Cumming, author of more than ten books, recommends five key post-Soviet spy thrillers and explains how the genre has evolved since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The Best Mystery Books of 2024
2024 was a solid year for mystery books, with books out from some of the best contemporary writers in the genre, including Tana French, S.A. Cosby, and Ruth Ware. The range of mood was also broad, with some wistful and nostalgic tales, and other books that are laugh-out-loud funny. Our best mystery books of 2025 list is now up and running.
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1
Birnam Wood: A Novel
by Eleanor Catton & Saskia Maarleveld (narrator) -
2
All the Sinners Bleed
by S.A. Cosby -
3
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
by Jesse Q. Sutanto and narrated by Eunice Wong -
4
The Secret Hours
by Mick Herron -
5
I Have Some Questions for You
by Rebecca Makkai and narrated by Julia Whelan and JD Jackson
The Best Mystery & Suspense Audiobooks of 2023, recommended by AudioFile Editors
The Best Mystery & Suspense Audiobooks of 2023, recommended by AudioFile Editors
It’s a lot of fun listening to mystery books or crime novels as audiobooks, with good narrators adding suspense and enjoyment to the reading experience. Editors at AudioFile magazine, who specialize in reviewing audiobooks, pick out the best ones of 2023, good books made even better by being read aloud by a skilled narrator.
