From a New York Times story by Sarah Lyall headlined “Mick Herron Has Made a Blockbuster Career Writing About Foul-Ups and Has-Beens”:

In 2013, Mick Herron’s rickety literary career looked to be falling apart. None of his novels had sold more than a few hundred copies, and “Slow Horses,” the first book in his acidly funny series about a band of misfits in the British intelligence services, had performed so badly that its sequel, “Dead Lions, could not find a British publisher.

“Ineptitude has always been a big part of my career,” Herron, who will turn 60 in January, said recently.