New look for John Murray's rediscovered Mick Herron thrillers

John Murray has designed new jackets for crime author Mick Herron’s trilogy of Jackson Lamb thrillers to "appeal to readers of all types".

The new look paperbacks will be published this autumn, with a programme of marketing and PR activity planned to further broaden their readership. 

The books were first acquired by John Murray last year after publisher Mark Richards - also credited in rediscovering Andrew Michael Hurley’s award-winning debut The Loney - stumbled on a US import in W H Smiths in Liverpool Street station. The thrillers had previously been unpublished in the UK, although distributed here by Soho Press.
 
The first two books in the series, Slow Horses and Dead Lions, appeared with John Murray in paperback editions in October 2015. They will now be reissued in August and September, respectively, with promotional activity including an Evening Standard giveaway last week that saw the new look paperback for Slow Horses distributed to 10,000 commuters at major rail stations across London.

Real Tigers, which was published by John Murray in hardback in February this year, meanwhile comes out in paperback in October, coinciding with a big outdoor and high-profile digital advertising campaign for the thrillers.

John Murray reports that its total physical and e-book sales of the Jackson Lamb thrillers to date is around 25,000. 

John Murray editorial director Mark Richards said: “When I picked up a copy of the American paperback of Slow Horses in W H Smith, I was surprised I hadn’t heard of Mick Herron, and even more surprised when I learnt he didn’t have a UK publisher; the writing was so sharp, the jokes so good, and the group of drop-out spies so well drawn and recognisable. The extraordinary reaction across the board to the publication of Real Tigers earlier this year cemented our conviction that we should put everything behind him, and have come up with new covers to appeal to readers of all types. Mick Herron, despite his writer fans, his prizes and his extraordinary reviews, has for too long been hiding in plain sight, and we’re very determined that he should finally reach the audience he deserves.”