Clown town, by Mick Herron

With this ninth book in the Slow Horses series, Mick Herron has once again delivered a page turner with intricate plotting, fascinating characters, and hilarious dialog. I loved this entry in the saga of Slough House, the division of MI5 where agents are sent to encourage them to leave out of boredom or frustration with their dull and tedious assignments. And as usual, they are caught up in the middle of a conspiracy and have to use their unique skills to figure out what's going on and block the nefarious actions of the MI5 leadership. I am sad to have finally caught up with the series, but happy that Herron is planning a 10th book although a release date has not been announced. According to his website, a collection of his novellas is being released in October, but it appears to be a re-release of the novellas already published as Standing by the wall (also the name of one of the novellas included in it).