SHELF HELP

Staff from your Monroe County Public Library recommend some of their favorites from the collection.

What: “Slow Horses” by Mick Herron

Why: This is the first book in a terrific, funny but still gripping espionage series, now being wonderfully adapted for TV by Apple+. The titular slow horses are disgraced MI5 agents who have been banished to a department known as Slough House, because “it might as well be in Slough." River Cartwright is the newest arrival, possibly protected from being fired after a catastrophic training screw-up by his grandfather, who was high up in the service. Veteran and apparently shambolic spy Jackson Lamb leads the group, who are sharper than they’re given credit for (and, like River, mostly desperate to escape exile and get back to HQ). The TV show is great, but even if you’ve seen it, the book is still worth reading for all the detail and interior character illumination that you just can’t cram into a limited TV series. And – good news! – if you get hooked, there are already eight books in the series out there and more on the way.

Where: This is available as a book, ebook and e-audiobook from the Monroe County Library system. How: You can request books online by logging in to www. keyslibraries.org and get ebooks and e-audiobooks 24/7 at www. estuff.keyslibraries.org. If you don’t have a card, you can visit your local branch or register online to get one. Questions? info@keyslibraries.org

Recommended by: Nancy Klingener, community affairs manager