Mick Herron books in order – Where to read after Season 6

Where the show leaves you

Slow Horses has now caught up with most of Mick Herron’s books. Season 6 adapted two novels at once, which means the series has covered books one to seven, and the next season, already confirmed, will take on book eight. If you finished Season 6 and want more, the books are the obvious next step, and for the first time you can read ahead of the screen.

This page is a reading order, with notes on what the show has covered and what has not been adapted yet. For the question of how the show differs from the novels, our books versus TV show guide covers it, and the full season-by-season mapping lives on the Slow Horses hub.

The Slough House novels in order

Read them in publication order. The series is one continuing story with a fixed cast, and later books refer back to the events of earlier ones, so jumping around will spoil things.

#	Novel	Published	On screen?
1	Slow Horses	2010	Season 1
2	Dead Lions	2013	Season 2
3	Real Tigers	2016	Season 3
4	Spook Street	2017	Season 4
5	London Rules	2018	Season 5
6	Joe Country	2019	Season 6
7	Slough House	2021	Season 6
8	Bad Actors	2022	Season 7, confirmed
9	Clown Town	2025	Not yet

The show adapted one novel per season until Season 6, which combined books six and seven. That is why the table shows two books against one season, and why the next confirmed season moves on to book eight.

Read ahead: Bad Actors and Clown Town

If you finished Season 6 and cannot wait, Bad Actors is book eight, and it is the source for Season 7. Reading it first means you will meet the next story before the screen does. The risk is the usual one: you will know what is coming. If you prefer to be surprised on screen, wait for the season and read the book afterwards.

Clown Town is book nine, published in 2025, and it is the latest main novel. It has not been adapted, and there is no confirmed season for it, so it is the one book you can read without any comparison to the show. If you read straight through to the end of the published series, this is where you finish.

If you are not caught up on the show, the better advice is to stay in order and let the books and seasons run in step: watch a season, then read the matching book, and you will always know what has changed.

The novellas

Between the novels, Herron has written shorter pieces set in the same world, collected in Standing by the Wall. They are in the same voice, short and sharp, and they are a good way to spend more time with the team without committing to a full novel. They are an extra rather than a required part of the story, so read them whenever you like.

Beyond Slough House

Herron has written a good deal besides the Slough House series. The Zoë Boehm novels begin with Down Cemetery Road and run to four books, and Down Cemetery Road has been adapted for Apple TV with Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson. He has also written standalone novels, including Nobody Walks and The Secret Hours.

None of them is required reading for Slow Horses, and none has Jackson Lamb. But if what you want is Herron’s voice, his dark comedy and his interest in how institutions fail people, they are the natural next shelf.

About Mick Herron

Mick Herron was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1963, studied English at Balliol College, Oxford, and lives in Oxford. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2024. The success of the series was not instant: Constable published Slow Horses in 2010 but declined the next book in the UK because of disappointing sales, the US publisher Soho Press carried on with the series, and John Murray began republishing it in the UK in 2015.

The books have won real prizes. Dead Lions won the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger in 2013, Spook Street won the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award in 2017, and Slough House won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award in 2022. In 2025 Herron received the CWA Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement. That is useful to know if you are deciding whether the books are worth your time on top of the show: they were acclaimed in print long before Apple adapted them.

Print, ebook or audio?

The books are short and quick, so format is a matter of habit. Print is best for a weekend; ebooks suit travel. The audiobooks are particularly good because the novels are built on dialogue, and Audible’s 30-day trial is enough to test whether you like the voice. Catalogues change, so check what is available on the day.

The Dadnology verdict

The show has caught up with the books, and the books are still ahead of it. For a reader, that is good news: there are two more novels and a collection of novellas waiting, and they are written in the same voice that made the series worth watching.

Read in order, keep the show and the books in step if you can, and when Season 7 arrives, you will know exactly how much of Bad Actors survived the trip to the screen.

What order should I read the Mick Herron Slough House books in?

Publication order: Slow Horses, Dead Lions, Real Tigers, Spook Street, London Rules, Joe Country, Slough House, Bad Actors and Clown Town. The series is one continuing story with a fixed cast, so reading out of order spoils earlier plots.

What should I read after Slow Horses Season 6?

Bad Actors, book eight, which is the next novel and the source for Season 7. After that comes Clown Town, book nine, which has not yet been adapted.

Which Slow Horses books has the TV show adapted?

Books one to seven. Seasons 1 to 5 adapted one novel each, and Season 6 combined Joe Country and Slough House. Season 7 is confirmed and adapts Bad Actors.

How many Slough House books are there?

Nine main novels, from Slow Horses in 2010 to Clown Town in 2025, plus a collection of novellas called Standing by the Wall.

Are the Slough House novellas worth reading?

Yes, if you want more time with the characters. They are short, in the same voice and are collected in Standing by the Wall, but they are an extra rather than a required part of the story.

Does Mick Herron have other books besides Slough House?

Yes. He wrote the Zoë Boehm series, starting with Down Cemetery Road, plus standalone novels including Nobody Walks and The Secret Hours. Down Cemetery Road has also been adapted for Apple TV, starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson.