I thoroughly enjoyed these, even though I'm not generally a fan of short stories. I also have a sneaking suspicion I had read some of them before. My favourite was 'Dolphin Junction' and my least favourite 'All the Livelong Day'. ( )

1. Proof of Love - 4 1/2 stars
This was a mystery featuring the Oxford wife-and-husband detective team of Zoë Boehm and Joe Silvermann. I haven't read any of this series yet, but I plan to. It seems to have that well-known mix of Herron's wit and creativity that makes him so good.

This one was mostly Joe, who seems to be a bit too nice to be a detective. He seemed to be a bit slow, but redeemed himself in the end, if not financially, at least in solving the mystery without anyone getting hurt.

Six Stand-Alones, Four Oxfords & One Slough House Short
Review of the Soho Crime hardcover (November 2021)

[4.0 average from the 11 separate ratings]
This was an excellent collection which mostly gathers Mick Herron's non-Slough House/Slow Horses short stories, especially 4 with the characters from his earlier Oxford Investigations (2003-2009) crime series which predated the currently ongoing Slough House espionage series (2010-2022 as of now). The Slough House story is somewhat of a prequel as it looks back at Jackson Lamb's early days in the field. Almost all of the stories had a twist element to them, sometimes in the very final sentence.

The numbering of the Oxford Investigations shorts reflect their date of publication, but not their chronological timeline in the series. Explaining that would be a spoiler though.

There was an earlier UK only release which collected 5 of these 11 stories as noted below.
See cover image at https://i0.wp.com/spywrite.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/img_3133-1.jpg?resize=...
Cover image of the UK only "All the Livelong Day and Other Stories" (2013). Image sourced from SpyWrite.

1. Proof of Love **** (Oxford Investigations #3.6, originally published in Ellery Queen's Magazine 2008). The Oxford Investigators team of Joe Silvermann and Zoë Boehm deal with a case of a rich man paying blackmail to protect his wife's reputation.
2. Remote Control **** (Standalone, originally published in EQ'sMM 2007). A seemingly innocuous chance meeting on a commuter train is actually something far more diabolical.
3. Lost Luggage *** (Standalone, originally published in EQ'sMM 2006). A couple make observant comments about a fellow diner at a roadside restaurant. The title is explained in a final twist.
4. Mirror Images **** (Oxford Investigations #4.5, originally published in EQ'sMM 2010). An apparent 'murderer' comes to Oxford Investigations to ask Joe and Zoë to solve his haunting by one of his 'victims'. Again some great twists in this one.
5. Dolphin Junction ***** (Standalone, originally published in EQ'sMM 2009). A husband tracks down clues to his wife's apparent disappearance, although all indications are that she left him intentionally.
6. An American Fridge *** (Standalone, first broadcast by the BBC* 2016). Not really a mystery as such, more along the lines of Herron's spy fiction with an industrial espionage type of twist.
7. The Other Half *** (Oxford Investigations #3.5, originally published in EQ'sMM 2008). Oxford Investigators Joe Silvermann and Zoë Boehm are dragged into a feud between a separate couple which involves the trashing of an apartment.
8. All the Livelong Day **** (Standalone, originally published by AudioGo 2013). A couple are on a remote hike, when the man trips and breaks his ankle. The wife has to seek help at an apparently deserted farmhouse.
9. The Last Dead Letter **** (Slough House #6.4, originally published in Soho Crime's 10th anniversary edition of "Slow Horses" 2019). Somewhat of a prequel as MI5's archivist Molly Doran confronts Slough House's Jackson Lamb about his early days in the field when he was a "mirror-man" (Herron's spy-speak for a "handler") to a "Joe" (Herron's spy-speak for an agent in the field) in Berlin during the Cold War.
10. The Usual Santas *** (Standalone, originally published by Bookdealer 2007). More of a comic caper, as a group of 8 anonymous Santas at a giant shopping mall are joined at their seasonal after party by a ninth unknown Santa.
11. What We Do *** (Oxford Investigations #4.6, originally published in EQ'sMM 2013). Oxford Investigator Zoë Boehm tells a story to her therapist about her moral conflicts about aiding a thief with a scam.

Trivia and Links
* The audio performance on BBC4 is currently not available as of mid-2022. But if it is ever rebroadcast it would be available via this webpage here. ( )

These stories were a complete surprise with twisty endings, and unexpected plot turns. I found them to be a delight. ( )

While we wait for the next Slough House novel to come out (on 12 May, but who’s counting) and for the Apple TV series based on that those characters (no release date yet), along comes this collection of previously-published Mick Herron short stories. Some are stand-alone stories, some feature his Oxford-based private investigator Zoë Boehm and there’s one featuring my own personal favourite, Jackson Lamb. The stories are consistently interesting, usually surprising and have certainly tempted me to read the Zoë Boehm books. Highly recommended. ( )