Just as we are seeing the release of Herron’s holiday themed short story Standing by the Wall and with season two of SLOW HORSES right around the corner, we have a glimpse of Herron’s next book – The Secret Hours.

Here’s the description from Amazon –

Monochrome is a busted flush – an inquiry into the misdeeds of the intelligence services, established by a vindictive prime minister but rendered toothless by a wily chief spook. For years it has ground away uselessly, interviewing witnesses with nothing to offer, producing a report with nothing to say, while the civil servants at its helm see their careers disappearing into a black hole.

And then the OTIS file falls into their hands . . .

What secrets does this hold that see a long-redundant spy being chased through Devon’s green lanes in the dark? What happened in a newly reunified Berlin that someone is desperate to keep under wraps? And who will win the battle for the soul of the secret service – or was that decided a long time ago?

Spies and pen-pushers, politicians and PAs, high-flyers, time-servers and burn-outs . . . They all have jobs to do in the daylight.

But what they do in the secret hours reveals who they really are.

Well that sounds intriguing! From what Herron has said in interviews, this isn’t a Slough House novel but possibly part of the same world.

We’ll see exactly what he’s up to when it arrives in September of 2023.

h/t Clarissa Aykroyd of http://thestoneandthestar.blogspot.com for the heads up!