Posted in: Apple, TV | Tagged: crime writers association, Mick Herron, Slow Horses

Slow Horses Author Mick Herron Wins Crime Writers Association Award

Slow Horses creator Mick Herron has won the prestigious Diamond Dagger Lifetime Achievement Award from the Crime Writers' Association.

Published Fri, 24 Jan 2025 08:37:07 -0600

by Adi Tantimedh

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Article Summary

Mick Herron wins the Crime Writers’ Association's (CWA) Diamond Dagger for his lifetime contribution to crime writing.
Slow Horses series earned earlier accolades from the CWA for "Dead Lions" and "Spook Street."
Apple TV+ adapts Slow Horses, with Gary Oldman starring, and more seasons in the pipeline.
Down Cemetery Road set for TV adaptation with stars Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson.

Slow Horses creator and crime author Mick Herron has been awarded the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) Diamond Dagger award for lifetime contribution to crime writing. Two Slow Horses books were previously honored by the CWA – "Dead Lions" won the Gold Dagger in 2013, and "Spook Street" won the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger in 2017. CWA members make nominations for the Diamond Dagger, which are then narrowed down to a shortlist by industry experts before being voted on by a panel of past winners. To celebrate, here's a picture of Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb from Slow Horses with an ice cream cone!

Herron was born in Newcastle and studied English at Oxford, where he still lives. He began writing fiction while working as a sub-editor in London while writing crime fiction in his spare time. His first detective novel, "Down Cemetery Road," was published in 2003 and is the first of four books in his Zoë Boehm series. Herron published Slow Horses, the first novel in the Slough House series, in 2010, which follows a group of disgraced MI5 agents exiled to a rundown office in the centre of London. The first series of Slow Horses premiered on Apple TV+ in 2022, starring Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, and each season has adapted one of the books. The fourth season premiered in 2024, with two more already in the works. Down Cemetery Road will be adapted for television by Apple TV+, starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson after the streamer's success with Slow Horses.

"To receive this accolade from these friends and colleagues is a career highlight and a personal joy," said Herron. "I'm touched and thrilled beyond measure and will try to live up to the honour."

"I am delighted that the Diamond Dagger judges have picked Mick as their recipient this year," said CWA chair Vaseem Khan. "Few could be more deserving. Mick is the quintessential writer's writer, and his Slough House novels have, by general consensus, reinvented the spy thriller, going on to delight millions on the page and on screen. The Diamond Dagger is a fitting tribute to a writer whose work has become a cultural marker and record of our time."

Past recipients include John le Carré, Ruth Rendell, Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, and PD James, with Prime Suspect creator Lynda La Plante and James Lee Burke as co-winners in 2024. Slow Horses is streaming on Apple TV+.