Crime king Mick Herron lands top honour

Slow Horses creator Mick Herron has been honoured with the highest accolade in crime writing – the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Diamond Dagger.

The prestigious award recognises authors whose careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre.

Newcastle-born Herron, 61, who lives and works in Oxford, said: “I’ve spent the best part of my life – not the majority of it; just the best part – in the crime writers’ community, and to receive this accolade from these friends and colleagues is both a career highlight and a personal joy. I’m touched and thrilled beyond measure, and will try to live up to the honour.”

Previous winners have included  Lynda La Plante, James Lee Burke, Peter James, Lee Child, Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, Martina Cole, Ann Cleeves and Val McDermid.

One of the UK’s most prominent societies, the CWA was founded in 1953 by John Creasey; the awards started in 1955 with its first award going to Winston Graham, best known for Poldark.

Heron’s Slough House series, featuring exiled MI5 agents, have been adapted into a hit Apple TV series starring Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb and Kristin Scott Thomas as spymistress Diana Taverner, and have been published in 25 languages.

His Zoë Boehm series, about an Oxford-based PI, is currently being adapted into a major TV series starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson. Herron is also the author of the highly acclaimed standalone novels Nobody Walks and The Secret Hours.

CWA chair Vaseem Khan said: “I am delighted that the Diamond Dagger judges have picked Mick as their recipient this year. Few could be more deserving. Mick is the quintessential writers’ writer and his Slough House novels have, by general consensus, reinvented the spy thriller, going on to delight millions on the page and onscreen.”

Herron will return after a three-year hiatus with his latest Slow Horses thriller, Clown Town, in September.

The ninth instalment of the Slough House series sees spymaster Jackson Lamb try to stop MI5 chief Diana Taverner from dragging the failed spies under his control into her latest scheme.Nominations for the CWA Diamond Dagger are recommended by CWA members. Industry experts then narrow these down to a shortlist. The winner is then voted for by a panel of past Diamond Dagger winners.

He has also been named as programming chair of the 2025 Theakson Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival which will take place in July at the Old Swan Hotel in the North Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate.

Past icons of the genre acknowledged with a Diamond Dagger include Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill, and John le Carré.

The CWA Daggers are regarded by the publishing world as the foremost British awards for crime-writing. As the oldest awards in the genre, they have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century.

The Diamond Dagger will be presented at the annual CWA Dagger Awards on July 3.