Fun.  The whole series seems binge-worthy so I’ll go until it’s not.  There are only 7 books.  On the downside it’s narrated by Michael Healy rather than Gerard Doyle, but Healy is good and does a good job – I was just used to Doyle. That said,  the remaining 6 books will be narrated by Doyle.  Yay.   

*******
Dead Lions
by Mick Harron
2013 / 443 pages
Read by Michael Healy 10h 53m Rating:  A-  / crime (spy)
#2 in the Slough Horses series
(Both read and listened) 
*******

So book #2 concerns the same Slough House troupe without those who died in the first book. River Cartwright, Jackson Lamb and Catherine Standish spy onward along with some others. They’re still working out of Slough House which is probably a bit worse for the wear.  Actually, this is only a few months later.  

In this story aman is found dead on a bus in London and as it turns out, reading the clues correctly,  he was a Russian agent – an old Russian agent from Cold War Days. This leads to a bunch of other tangles which Lamb and his agents get busy on.  It’s a thinking woman’s spy novel if she also has a great sense of humor and can suspend that disbelief one more inch.
 
But the high rating is not about the plotting alone which is the best of spy-novel intricate and very satisfying.  And it’s not about the character development which is superb and also feels right on the mark for any contemporary novel, spy genre or not. And it’s not just about the language which is definitely Londonese/spyish and challenging in its own right.  It’s the combination of these is what will keep me going.  

Very helpful
Glossary and more: https://spywrite.com/mick-herron-slough-house/slough-house-glossary/

There are links to specifics on the other books here: https://spywrite.com/mick-herron-slough-house/slough-house-book-series-in-order/

 https://www.goodreads.com/characters/1016436-diana-taverner
Enjoy I’ll keep reading – #3 is next up.