Disgraced spooks and Dead Lions - an evening with Mick Herron

It’s the sort of story everyone loves to hear – an author who suddenly hits the big time and wins a major prize just at the point he thinks his writing career is in trouble.

Crime writer Mick Herron, who won the 2013 'CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger' for the Best Crime Novel of the Year, was at Mostly Books on May 21 to talk about two books set in the murky world of disgraced spies.

‘Dead Lions’, his prize-winning novel, is a wryly humorous tale of disgraced MI5 spies, who have been sent to Slough House as they can’t be sacked. Consigned to dull desk work, they are desperate to find a way back to the field work where they think they belong.

When a Cold War spook is thought to be active again, they suddenly have a chance of glory. But after years of being out of the game and all despising each other, there is as much comedy as action as we watch them all creak back into life and try to form a team that has even half a chance of getting results.

Mick Herron explained how, as his UK publisher wasn’t interested in the book, he thought his writing career was over. But then his US publisher stepped in, said they would take it on – and submitted it to the Crime Writers’ Association annual awards.

He beat a hugely impressive shortlist, including the much-lauded ‘The Shining Girls’ by Lauren Beukes, and Belinda Bauer’s ‘Rubberneckers’, among others, to take the dagger. In doing so he joins illustrious names such as Ian Ranking, Val McDermid and Reginald Hill as previous winners of the award.

At an evening at Mostly Books, Mick explained how the inspiration for his two very clever and funny crime novels was all sparked by a decrepit building he passed daily on his way to work that got his imagination going.

It may have been a building that sparked the initial idea, but Mick said he always starts with characters and a situation with his writing and finds his best plotting ideas develop as he goes along. And Slough House is peopled with some great characters – with tales of just how exactly they were disgraced leaking out throughout the books.

His journey towards his gold-dagger award-winning success has not been smooth. It took two years for this first novel to find a publisher in 2003 and he still only writes in the evenings after coming home from a full-time job.

It takes him about 18 months to write a novel - a slow process that involves more editing than writing and a great many semi-colons. But he has always written and always looks forward to that moment every day when he can get down to some writing.

‘Writing is an addiction you have to nurture. Most addictions you try to wean yourself off, but with writing you have to take that urge and encourage it and do it every day. I can’t wait for the part of the day when I switch my laptop on,’ he said.

With books involving such intriguing plots and such a large cast of characters, all of whom have a life of their own, he took plenty of questions about his writing style. He plots the first chapters scene by scene and only researches if he gets to a point in the plot where he feels he needs to.

The next step is that not only will he see all his previous novels back in print after his Dagger success – there will be a new standalone noir thriller, before he turns back to the folk at Slough House after that.

With a television series in the pipeline, we really hope far from a publishing career being over, that Mick is actually only at the start of a very successful career indeed.

3 4 Friday - Dead Bursars, Desperate Pilgrims and a Writer on the Edge - Mostly Books turns to crime...

It's tough on the High Street at the moment, so Mostly Books will be turning to crime over the coming weeks - well, crime fiction at least, with an in-shop event with CWA Gold Dagger award-winner Mick Herron. We've almost sold out of tickets, so email us if you would like us to reserve you a place.

In the meantime, here are three cracking - and very different - crime and mystery thrillers that we definitely think are worth your time and hard-earned money.

The first is ‘I Am Pilgrim’, the debut novel by legendary screenwriter Terry Hayes (who wrote, amongst many other films, the script for Dead Calm). ‘Pilgrim’ is the codename of Scott Murdoch, adopted son of a wealthy American couple, and member of the above-top-secret ‘The Department’ – which polices the actions of other US spies. Having anonymously written the ultimate book on forensic examination, he may have unwittingly allowed ‘the perfect murder’ to take place – and the NYPD need his help to solve it.

But soon there are bigger, world-threatening activities taking place as terrorist ‘The Saracen’ plans a frighteningly plausible attack on the United States. If you like your techno-thrillers weighty (in every sense), fast-paced, densely plotted, and nerve-shreddingly plausible you will definitely not be disappointed (oh, and the dialogue is everything you’d expect from a talented screenwriter). The bags under Mark’s eyes are testament to how gripping this book is – published in paperback on 10 April, and available to download as an eBook – email us to reserve a copy for you in the shop...

‘The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair’ by Joël Dicker is another debut, but a totally different animal: a twisty, turny* whodunnit with a novelist as the main protagonist. Harry Quebert is the feted writer of ‘The Origins of Evil’ and his protégé Marcus Goldman looks to be following in Harry’s footsteps, destined to become the great American novelist. But as the deadline for his second novel ticks closer, writer’s block gives way to a sinister shock as a young girl’s body is discovered in Harry’s garden – and he is arrested for murder. Marcus sets off back to the small town of Somerset – but can he discover the truth of what happened to fifteen year-old Nola, clear the name of his mentor – and possibly complete his book?

Translated from the original French by Sam Taylor (who translated Laurent Binet's 'HhHH') the style is deceptively melodramatic and almost cod ‘noir’ which skillfully pulls you into a story far more complex than you initially think. Exploring recent US history and the turmoil lurking below the veneer of small-town America, it also contains a splendid riff on how to write a great book. Available in hardback in the shop - or downloadable here.

('Twisty, turny' is a technical bookseller term, in case you were wondering)

Thanks to Colin Dexter, we all know that you can barely move in Oxford without stepping over piles of corpses, but Oxford's association with murder mysteries is much older than that. We’ve loved the British Library Crime Classics, recently reissued, and our favourite is most definitely 'Death on the Cherwell' by Mavis Doriel Hay.

Students discover the drowned body of the college bursar floating in her canoe and begin an investigation into the tangled secrets that led to the bursar's death - and the clues that point to a fellow student. A classic mystery novel, with its evocative setting in an Oxford women's college, is now republished for the first time since the 1930s.

So, much murder and mayhem to enjoy. It's been a bumper year so far for crime, so make sure you pop into the shop for some of our other recommendations...

Our Favourite Books of 2013 Part 1: Nicki's Picks

It’s a head-to-head this year for my ‘favourite book of the year’, which is always a good sign that it has been a year of great reading, with some wonderful titles coming through in adult fiction, crime fiction and children’s books. 

Out in paperback this week is ‘Life After Life’ by Kate Atkinson, which has already marked itself out as a must-read by scooping the first award of the year - taking ‘best novel’ at the Costa Book Awards (nearly 20 years after her debut ‘Behind the Scenes at the Museum’ triumphed in the same prize).

‘Life After Life’ is a feast of a narrative structure – being not so much the story of Ursula, but her many stories.

Ursula has many different imagined futures, from circumstances that means she dies within the first few pages, to ones where fate deals her a different hand and she grows and marries.

But whatever life path Ursula follows, it’s a life fraught with lurking danger, as Ursula dies frequently – but the upside to this is that this is literature, so she gets a chance to do better each time. 

There is lots to love about this unusual and complex story – such as characters who appear in different versions of Ursula’s life, moving from bit-part to central role. One of the most satisfying is the narrative on Ursula’s role in World War II as this would have made a satisfying enough story on its own – the heartfelt descriptions of London bombings, each death given as much weight and significance as each of Ursula’s untimely ends.

How often have you wondered how differently things might have turned out if you had just done this, or not done that? I love the literary premise to play with this whole idea and allow one character to have many chances to do it better next time around. What a brilliant concept – and also fun to read, which is a remarkable achievement given that the repeated sections of Ursula's life become quite familiar.

When you’ve waited more than a decade for Donna Tartt to write another novel, it was very satisfying to finally read ‘The Goldfinch’ and it’s hard not to join all those saying how special it is, head and shoulders above everything else I’ve read this year and predicting this will be the one to scoop all the awards over the coming year.

In ‘The Goldfinch’ you can discover a dazzling, Dickensian read, akin to Pip’s journey in ‘Great Expectation’. A modern fable about the highs and lows and essential randomness of modern life, with success just one slip away from failure and any number of people living lives of quiet desperation, just hoping that things will just somehow all turn out all right.

Theo’s journey into much-admired gloss and success is swift and spectacular. But without a centre to his world (the grief at the loss of his mother in the early pages is always present), his judgement and moral values are utterly adrift. His life empty and inexplicable and steering closer and closer to the criminal.

With dips into philosophy about the human condition, philosophy on the value of art, instruction on the forging of antiques; even the detail of the effects of serious dependency on prescription drugs, the journey leaves you feeling in awe of Donna Tartt’s ability to be so precise and so compelling and to make you want to stay with her for every word, not even drawing away or skipping ahead when she’s simply describing a room. It’s also, simply, a good story.

The plot twists its way through unexpected reversals of fortune, unexpected kindnesses and equally devastating let-downs. It cranks up into being a fully-fledged edge-of-the-seat thriller. You hope friends won’t let Theo down again, but you fear the opposite.
It may be tangled and complex and about lots of very big things. But fundamentally, I was left with a feeling that it’s about friendship. And that if you have one person in your life who’ll take a bullet for you, in the end, you haven’t done too bad.

Please don’t make us wait another eleven years to read another.

From one big-stage thriller to another that’s a bit more slow-burn and a very pleasurable read and a romp, Mick Herron’s ‘Dead Lions’ was this year’s perhaps surprise winner of the Crime Fiction Gold Dagger for best crime book of the year.

It centres on a disparate team of spies who have been put out to grass (and has been likened to the hit television show ‘New Tricks’). There is much fun in a bunch of characters who are bickering over whose career is the most derailed and seeing them slowly return to life as they realise they may be right in the centre of something big. As they start to sniff a chance to claw their way back to glory - can they work as a team and remember those skills they used to have?

This is fun writing and a really complex, well-thought through plot, where lots of seemingly random threads only slowly build up to make a coherent picture. It reminded me a lot of the late Reginald Hill’s Dalziel and Pascoe series, with trails going all over the place until you start to wake up yourself to what is actually happening. It’s also got that trademark of Hill’s – witty, intelligent writing and prose that is just really enjoyable to read. Great stuff.

In all the circus surrounding the revelation that Robert Galbraith was none other than JK Rowling, it was easy to overlook the fact that ‘The Cuckoo's Calling’ was a terrific crime novel in the traditional style – a private eye taken on to challenge the police conclusion that a model committed suicide.

Never taking no for an answer, former military man-turned gumshoe Cormorant Strike, navigates the unfamiliar world of fashion, making for a likeable sleuth in his determination to look past her wealth and success and to bring justice for Lula Landry, a successful, yet troubled woman.

His investigation is a dogged round of interviews, sieving for inconsistencies, getting under the skin of vividly drawn suspects and witnesses and never giving up, and makes for an intelligent, intriguing and satisfying read.

How great to find gems where the plot didn’t descend into gratuitous violence, a serial killer story thread, or a credulity-stretching conclusion, or expecting us to be satisfied with ‘oh the killer was actually completely insane, but no-one noticed.’

Give me a cerebral plot with a satisfying, properly thought-through ending you couldn’t see coming purely through the strength of the storytelling and I am a happy woman.

It was also a good year for children's books, notable in a welcome increase in the number of illustrated books for older children. Hear, hear for this. A book that is a joy to look at and hold, as well as to read? What a good idea.

Chris Riddell’s ‘Goth Girl’ is enhanced by it’s eye-catching design; even so it’s probably the glorious literary references that will have parents fighting over whether they get to read this with their children.

Ada Goth lives in Ghastly-Gorm Hall with its Secret Garden, its Even-More-Secret Garden, Unstable Stables and a host of literary visitors (Mary Shellfish, the distinguished lady novelist, arrives to stay at a house party) who come to visit poet Lord Goth. Is there a dastardly plot to foil his literary career?

Chris Riddell’s drawings are as generous as the literary references (even the ghost mouse gets his own version of 'Gulliver’s Travels’) and the whole thing is an absolute joy.

It probably won’t be an enormous surprise to learn that one of my favourite children’s reads of the year was actually a mystery story.

In Rebecca Stead’s ‘Liar & Spy’ Georges moves house and meets a new friend, Safer, who has suspicions about one of the neighbours. The pair get involved in all sorts of surveillance trying to work out what the neighbour is up to.

It’s all very intriguing, and then things start to get a little darker, motives and friendships questioned. There is more going on than meets the eye in this short, yet quirky story, which is also a great lesson about standing up for ourselves. Why do we let the bullies make up the rules and why do we play them, is the central question of this really delightful and intriguing tale which is never short on surprises.

Finally, Tom Moorhouse's 'The River Singers' is another book with high production values, wonderful illustrations and a great story set in the modern day with endangered water voles as its main characters.

This unusual but exciting story manages to draw attention to the genuine plight of a threatened species by turning the story into a thrilling adventure and a quest for safety in the shadow of a real-life threat.

And that, in the end, is what storytelling is all about.