Description

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CWA Gold and Steel Dagger-winner Mick Herron's short fiction, collected for the first time.

Mick Herron, author of the Slough House novels, is on his way to becoming one of the most critically acclaimed and culturally important crime fiction writers of the twenty-first century. He has been awarded both the Gold and Steel Daggers by the Crime Writers’ Association and has been called “the John Le Carré of the future” (BBC). But Mick Herron does more than “just” write flawlessly suspenseful spy thrillers. He is a craftist of the highest order, irrepressibly versatile in form (novels, novellas, short fiction) and mood (witty, taut, spooky, laugh-out-loud funny), whose “efficient, darkly witty, tipped-with-imagery  sentences . . . feel purpose-built to perforate [our] private daze of illiteracy” (The Atlantic).

Now, for the first time, Herron’s short fiction has been collected into one volume. In Dolphin Junction, devoted fans and future converts alike will find much to amuse, delight, and terrify them. Five standalone nerve-rackingly thrilling crime fiction stories are complemented by four mystery stories featuring the Oxford wife-and-husband detective team of shrewd Zoë Boehm and hapless Joe Silvermann. The collection also includes a peek into the past of Jackson Lamb, irascible top agent at Slough House.

About the Author

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Mick Herron was born in Newcastle and has a degree in English from Balliol College, Oxford. He is the author of the Oxford series, the Slough House series, and the standalone novels This Is What Happened, Nobody Walks, and Reconstruction. His work has won the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel, the Steel Dagger for Best Thriller, and the Ellery Queen Readers Award, and been nominated for the Macavity, Barry, Shamus, and Theakstons Novel of the Year Awards.

Praise For…

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Praise for Dolphin Junction

“A collection that demonstrates the breadth of Herron’s talent . . . Designed to showcase the author’s mastery of plot twists.”
—Sarah Weinman, The New York Times Book Review

“Each [story] delivers a surprise, a shock, or a shiver, with plenty of Herron’s trademark smoke-and-mirror misdirection and sardonic humour.”
—The Guardian

“11 crystalline and often hilarious little nightmares . . . Twisted tales as breezily funny as they are beautifully composed.”
—Shelf Awareness

“Outstanding tales that range from taut and terrifying to cleverly ironic and subtly humorous . . . There’s something for everyone in this diverse and satisfying collection.”
—Booklist, Starred Review

“The 11 entries in British author Herron’s first story collection offer wit, original metaphors, surprising plots, and seemingly placid scenes full of sinister undercurrents.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Filled with delicious surprises . . . Perfect for readers eager to have the wool pulled over their eyes again and again.”
—Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Mick Herron

“Out of a wickedly imagined version of MI5, [Herron] has spun works of diabolical plotting and high-spirited cynicism, their pages filled with sardonic wit, their characters approaching the surreal.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“Mick Herron is one of the finest writers of his generation.”
—Steve Cavanagh, author of the Eddie Flynn novels
 
[Herron] really is funny and his cynicism is belied, here and there, by flashes of the mingled tenderness and anger that seem to define Britain’s post-Brexit self-reflections."
—Charles Finch, USA Today
 
“Herron’s morbidly witty backdrop hosts incisive storytelling with a rich mix of engaging characters.”
—Financial Times

“Hilarious and suspenseful . . . Sharper than most espionage fiction being written today and manages to stay uncannily contemporary.”
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
 
“Herron is a subtle stylist, and he strikes a perfect balance of big-hearted humor and thrilling spy stuff.”
—The Seattle Times