Editorial Content for Dolphin Junction: Stories
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Selecting books for review each month at Bookreporter is like stepping up to a rich smorgasbord. Often reviewers (myself included) tend to pick authors they have enjoyed before, or at least have heard good things about. Yum, my inner self says, I’ll take one of those again. Or I may boldly reach for a tasty-looking new title. I tend to fall into the first category.
But when the pickings are slim, or I’m late to the title-picking party, I’m compelled to expand my horizons and look for new authors. It’s comforting to know that there are no shortage of fantastic finds out there, just sitting on that bookshelf in the corner waiting for a tap on the shoulder. Mick Herron is one of those discoveries.
"DOLPHIN JUNCTION inspired me to download the opening installment of the [Slough House] series, SLOW HORSES, to my Kindle the moment I closed the book."
The author of the Slough House espionage series, Herron and his work originally appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in the early 2000s, and a couple of those gems pop up in DOLPHIN JUNCTION, which collects his short fiction into one volume for the first time. I was especially drawn to his wry sense of humor and British idiom. It’s a delight to find something that makes you chuckle out loud as you share it in your American imitation of a British accent with a reading partner.
But where Herron truly hooked me were the excerpts from the Slough House novels featuring Joe Silverman and Zoë Boehm, the Oxford husband-and-wife detective team with a colorful past. Joe bumps into people in trouble and reels them in, while Zoë helps sort everything out. For a fee. They are cleverly written with just enough danger and humor to create an irresistible read.
DOLPHIN JUNCTION inspired me to download the opening installment of the series, SLOW HORSES, to my Kindle the moment I closed the book. I’m a sucker out here waiting to be reeled in, Mick Herron. Throw me a line, please!
Teaser
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 21st 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). Now, for the first time, his short fiction has been collected into one volume. Five stand-alone 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, the irascible top agent at Slough House.
Promo
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 21st 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). Now, for the first time, his short fiction has been collected into one volume. Five stand-alone 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, the irascible top agent at Slough House.
About the Book
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 21st 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 stand-alone 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.
Audiobook available; read by David Thorpe, Emma Powell, Gerard Doyle and Julia Franklin
