Mick Herron is the #1 bestselling and award-winning novelist and short story writer, best known for his Slough House thrillers. The series has been adapted into an Apple TV series, Slow Horses, starring Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb.

Interview with Mick Herron

Mick was interviewed by debut author and CWA Secretary, Roxie Key.

What is the first crime story you remember reading, and was this a catalyst for you?
I think it was The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat by Enid Blyton. I’d have been, I don’t know, five? Family legend – ie, my mother – has it that I read this while on holiday with cousins, and devoured it inside an afternoon. Suspicious of my reading ability, my cousins subjected me to interrogation, whereupon I regurgitated the entire plot. I no longer remember the details, I’m afraid, and as to whether it was a catalyst (the potential pun has only just occurred to me), who knows? I think all books read at such an early age encourage the storyteller within, though.

When was the moment you knew that writing fiction was going to be more than a hobby?
I remember having a word with myself in my late twenties. Career-wise I was drifting, and the verse I’d been writing – trying to write – had dried up. My day job at the time was drudgery. I can still remember returning home from it one day and sitting in my room, telling myself – out loud – that I either had to get a decent job or seriously apply myself to attempting a novel. For some reason, the possibility of doing both didn’t really occur to me. Anyway, I opted for the latter, and have never regretted it.

How has your own life experience affected the novels you write?
I don’t overwhelmingly borrow from my own life experience, but working in London – and office life generally – gave me the germ of Slow Horses, my sixth novel. Not, I should add, that my working life in any way resembled that of the slow horses.

What did you buy with your first royalties cheque?
A Cadbury’s Twirl, I think. I had to dob in some of my own money, mind.

What have you found is the best thing about being an author?
The obvious stuff: the people you meet, the opportunities offered. Those are some of the best things about being a successful author, anyway. But if the act of writing doesn’t in itself offer rewards, maybe you should be doing something else.

Who has helped you the most along the way, and how?
An honest list of those who’ve offered encouragement would run to some pages, and carries the embarrassing possibility of omitting someone crucial … So let’s avoid that and say, instead, that like many writers, I needed some kind of permission to start writing novels, from someone whose own books were not only a joy in themselves but generous enough that reading them felt like walking through an open door. For me, that author was Reginald Hill. I never had the opportunity to meet him, but I remain immensely grateful.

As a crime writer, what would you like to be remembered for?
Maybe for provoking the odd just-one-more-page moment, in bed, late at night, on a weekday.

If you were asked to advise someone who was starting out as a crime writer now, what would you say?
Write the book you need to write, not the one you hope will sell.

If you could go back and change one thing about your debut novel, what would it be?
When asked this before I’ve tended to say ‘its length’, and certainly if I wrote it now it would be shorter. But in my heart, I wouldn’t change a word.

What’s the next exciting thing happening for you?
Define ‘exciting’ … I’ve an Australia/New Zealand tour coming up, which will certainly occupy my attention for a while. But hand on heart, I get a bigger thrill from seeing a blank week ahead on the calendar – no commitments, no obligations. I get to write and read. That’s usually excitement enough.