Series · spy thriller
Slough House
The Slough House series by Mick Herron has 9 books and is best read in publication order, starting with Slow Horses (2010).
- Books
- 9 novels + 5 novellas
- First published
- 2010
- Status
- ongoing
- Last checked
Start here: Slow Horses (2010) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Slow Horses
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Slow Horses - Book 2:
Dead Lions
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dead Lions - Book 3:
The List
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The List - Book 4:
Real Tigers
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Real Tigers - Book 5:
Spook Street
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Spook Street - Book 6:
London Rules
Alternative text for cover: Cover of London Rules - Book 7:
The Marylebone Drop
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Marylebone Drop - Book 8:
Joe Country
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Joe Country - Book 9:
The Catch
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Catch - Book 10:
The Last Dead Letter
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Last Dead Letter - Book 11:
Slough House
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Slough House - Book 12:
Bad Actors
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Bad Actors - Book 13:
Standing by the Wall
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Standing by the Wall - Book 14:
Clown Town
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Clown Town
About the Slough House series
Slough House is where MI5 dumps the officers it can't fire but won't trust with real work: the screw-ups, addicts and burnouts, exiled to humiliating desk jobs under the vile, brilliant, permanently flatulent Jackson Lamb. Mick Herron's spy novels invert the glamorous-espionage template completely -- his "slow horses" are second-rate by design, and the series' dark comedy comes from watching them get pulled into real, high-stakes operations anyway, usually because Regent's Park (the actual Service, run by scheming careerists more dangerous to Lamb's team than any foreign agent) has botched something and needs deniable bodies. Herron writes with a satirist's eye for Whitehall backstabbing and a thriller writer's instinct for pace, and he kills off major characters with a casualness that keeps every book genuinely unpredictable.
It's for readers who want their spy fiction funny, cynical about institutions, and willing to treat its characters as expendable -- le Carre's moral seriousness crossed with a much blacker sense of humour. The series is the basis for Apple TV+'s Slow Horses, starring Gary Oldman as Lamb, which has driven a big surge of new readers to the books.
How to read this series
Publication order, starting with Slow Horses (2010), is the way to read this series, and the order above already interleaves the four short novellas at their correct points in the timeline: The List belongs between Dead Lions and Real Tigers; The Marylebone Drop between London Rules and Joe Country; The Catch and The Last Dead Letter between Joe Country and Slough House; and Standing by the Wall between Bad Actors and Clown Town. All five novellas are also collected together in the omnibus Standing by the Wall: The Collected Slough House Novellas.
The novellas are optional but rewarding -- several fill in backstory (especially Jackson Lamb's Cold War-era past in Berlin) that the novels only gesture at. New readers should start with Slow Horses and can safely skip the novellas on a first pass, folding them in on a reread.
Frequently asked questions
How many Slough House books are there?
There are 9 main Slough House novels, from Slow Horses (2010) to Clown Town (2025), plus 5 shorter novellas that fit between the novels: The List, The Marylebone Drop, The Catch, The Last Dead Letter, and Standing by the Wall.
What order should I read the Slough House books in?
Publication order, starting with Slow Horses. The novellas slot in at specific points in the timeline (see how_to_read), but they're optional extras -- new readers can start with just the nine main novels.
Is there a new Slough House book coming?
No new novel has been confirmed as of August 2026. Clown Town (2025) is the most recent main-line entry.
Is Slough House the same as Slow Horses?
Slow Horses is the title of the first novel and also the general nickname for Mick Herron's series (and the Apple TV+ show); Slough House is both the building where the disgraced agents work and the title of the seventh novel.
Is the Slough House series related to a TV show?
Yes. Apple TV+'s Slow Horses, starring Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, adapts the novels roughly one book per season and has run since 2022.
Reading order last verified .