The Slough House is a Crime Fiction series by Mick Herron, made up of 13 books published between 2010 and 2023. It begins with Slow Horses (2010), and is best read in publication order. The most recent entry is The Secret Hours (2023), spanning 13 years of storytelling.
Slough House series: frequently asked questions
What order should I read the Slough House series?
Start with Slow Horses (2010), the first book in the Slough House series by Mick Herron. Follow the books in publication order for the best reading experience.
How many books are in the Slough House series?
There are 13 books in the Slough House series by Mick Herron, published between 2010 and 2023.
What is the first book in the Slough House series?
The first book in the Slough House series is Slow Horses, published in 2010 by Mick Herron.
What is the latest book in the Slough House series?
The most recent book in the Slough House series is The Secret Hours (2023) by Mick Herron.
About the Slough House series
Mick Herron's Slough House novels — adapted as Apple TV+'s Slow Horses — are the sharpest, funniest spy fiction of the modern era. Slough House is where MI5 dumps its washed-up, disgraced and embarrassing agents to push paper until they quit. Presiding over them is Jackson Lamb, a flatulent, brilliant, deeply unpleasant spymaster who is far more dangerous than he looks.
Herron's genius is to fuse le Carré-style tradecraft and institutional rot with savage workplace comedy. The "slow horses" keep stumbling into real, deadly operations, and the body count is genuinely unpredictable.
Start with "Slow Horses." Read in publication order — the ensemble shifts as characters come and (often permanently) go, and the satire of British politics sharpens book by book.