Mick Herron’s Slough House series has built up quite the reputation since the publication of Slow Horses in 2010 with nine novels in the main series and more in the work, plus three adjacent novels that expand the world of The Park and Slough House, most recently with The Secret Hours in 2023. Aside from this collection of novels there are a string of shorter works by Mick Herron that feature both new and familiar faces. Far from throwaway, these are necessary extensions of Herron’s espionage world, fleshing it out beyond recognisable characters. In time for Christmas 2026, and coinciding with the end of Slow Horses season six on Apple TV, Watch the Quiet Snow has arrived, which collects together the five novellas in one binding. Crime Fiction Lover is once again on the case to discover how these novellas slot into Mick Herron’s Slow Horses/Slough House milieu.
This anthology beings with The List. First released in 2015, it came after the first two instalments in the series in the main series of novels, Slow Horses and Dead Lions. The List introduces a recurring protagonist who appears in the novellas, John Batchelor, who is a ‘milkman’ for MI5. In other words, he’s a babysitter, someone not in Slough House itself but certainly low down in the hierarchy. Batchelor also makes an appearance in the main series, but in the novellas we can take a little detour with this side character.
The first story sees Batchelor looking into a recently deceased agent and a shady investigation about whether they might have been a double agent. The List also introduces JK Coe, played in the TV series by Tom Burke, who becomes a protagonist in the standalone novel Nobody Walks.
The Drop is up second and sees a retired spy witness a mysterious dead drop in a café and reporting it to Batchelor. This novella features Lady Diana Taverner and introduces future slow horse, Lech Wichinski. It goes some way to explaining his eventual appearance at Barbican Station. We reviewed this novella in full on Crime Fiction Lover here.
See our video preview of Watch the Quiet Snow here.
The Catch is set between books six and seven in the series, Joe Country and Slough House, and once again follows Batchelor. This time as he is tasked by The Park with tracking down an old client, accused of stealing secrets. Batchelor may not be a slow horse but he certainly has their knack for being drawn to trouble like a moth to a flame.
The Last Dead Letter, published as part of the short story collection Dolphin Junction, explores Jackson Lamb’s Cold War past and relationship with archivist Molly Doran, something explored further in The Secret Hours. This is tantalising glimpse at the aloof leader of Slough House, which answers some questions fans may have long held while raising others. Frist published in 2020, it takes place within the same time frame as The Catch.
Standing by the Wall is the final of the novellas and feels like an extension to the main novel series. It follows Roddy Ho in a festive episode that was loosely inspired by the Frank Capra classic It’s a Wonderful Life. Published in 2022, and a bit shorter than the other stories, it does directly answer some plot points in the main series, situated between Bad Actors and Clown Town.
It should be noted that the hardback edition is particularly appealing, if you can get your hands on it. The wraparound dust jacket features a seasonal illustration of a wintry pub scene that, while not exactly festive, suggests that this collection has been assembled as a potential Christmas gift. The pub theme theme continues with a unique beermat design for each novella, which all appear in the endpapers and a section breaks to introduce the stories. It is currently a UK-only release. See our video preview of the book.
The novellas do a terrific job of extending what is already a rich and rewarding universe; John Batchelor in particular is a fascinating character and is unlike any of the others across Herron’s books. The more personal nature of the stories contrasts with the grander stakes of the main novels but Herron’s wit and observational prowess remain fully intact. Far from being seen as just for completionists, these novellas are every bit the equal of the rest of the series and will likely find a wider audience with the complete collection.
For more short story collections across crime fiction, click here.
Baskerville
Print/Kindle/iBook
£17.99
CFL Rating: 5 Stars
