'Irresistible' Guardian 'Impressive' Daily Mail 'Captivating' Mick Herron Nominated for the 2018 Best First Novel, Barry Award London 1909 Captain Kell of the War Office knows the Empire is under threat - from Russia and Germany, from terrorists and anarchists, spies and infiltrators. But he can't prove it to his superiors. He needs an agent he can trust, someone who knows the street, not the playing fields of Eton. Kell needs Wiggins. Trained as a child by Kell's old friend Sherlock Holmes, who used to call his little band of urchins the Baker Street Irregulars, Wiggins is now an ex soldier with an expert line in deduction and the cunning of a bare-knuckle fighter. But he has no wish to be recruited - until he sees a route to taking his sworn revenge on the killer of his best friend.

'Irresistible' Guardian 'Impressive' Daily Mail 'Captivating' Mick Herron Nominated for the 2018 Best First Novel, Barry Award London 1909 Captain Kell of the War Office knows the Empire is under threat - from Russia and Germany, from terrorists and anarchists, spies and infiltrators. But he can't prove it to his superiors. He needs an agent he can trust, someone who knows the street, not the playing fields of Eton. Kell needs Wiggins. Trained as a child by Kell's old friend Sherlock Holmes, who used to call his little band of urchins the Baker Street Irregulars, Wiggins is now an ex soldier with an expert line in deduction and the cunning of a bare-knuckle fighter. But he has no wish to be recruited - until he sees a route to taking his sworn revenge on the killer of his best friend.

1912. Released from the Secret Service, Wiggins sets out for New York and his lost lover Bela. But after an altercation on board, he finds himself among the low-life of Britain's poorest city, Dublin. Wiggins falls in with gangster Patrick O'Connell and is soon driving the boss's girlfriend around town. Molly wants O'Connell to support her Irish nationalist cause - a cause needing guns to defeat the British - and then they go to find them in America. Finally, Wiggins can solve the mystery of Bela - and meet his old mentor, Sherlock Holmes in a story of escalating intrigue, danger and violence.

AS AN URCHIN LIVING ON THE STREETS OF LONDON, WIGGINS SPIED FOR SHERLOCK HOLMES. AS A MAN, HE SPIES ON THE ENEMIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. "OUR MOST TALENTED HISTORICAL MYSTERY WRITER TODAY." --ANDREW GULLI, STRAND MAGAZINE "A TWIST-FILLED ADVENTURE." --THE WALL STREET JOURNAL "THE GAME IS MOST DEFINITELY AFOOT." --MICK HERRON London 1909: Vernon Kell, head of counterintelligence at the war office, wants to set up a Secret Service, but to convince his political masters he needs proof of a threat. And to find that proof, he needs an agent he can trust who is smart, ruthless, and able to blend in with the hoi polloi. As it happens, the man Kell needs is Wiggins. An ex-soldier with a talent for deduction perhaps second only to the Great Detective, Wiggins was a Baker Street Irregular, part of a gang of urchin investigators trained by Holmes himself. Unfortunately, Wiggins "don't do official," but when his best friend, Bill, is killed by Russian anarchists, Wiggins realizes that accepting the role of secret agent could give him the cover he needs to pursue revenge against Bill's killers. Tracking down the Russian gang responsible for the murder and assembling a motley network of allies and informants in the process, Wiggins begins to unravel a deadly international conspiracy.

AS AN URCHIN LIVING ON THE STREETS OF LONDON, WIGGINS SPIED FOR SHERLOCK HOLMES. AS A MAN, HE SPIES ON THE ENEMIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. "OUR MOST TALENTED HISTORICAL MYSTERY WRITER TODAY." --ANDREW GULLI, STRAND MAGAZINE "A TWIST-FILLED ADVENTURE." --THE WALL STREET JOURNAL "THE GAME IS MOST DEFINITELY AFOOT." --MICK HERRON London 1909: Vernon Kell, head of counterintelligence at the war office, wants to set up a Secret Service, but to convince his political masters he needs proof of a threat. And to find that proof, he needs an agent he can trust who is smart, ruthless, and able to blend in with the hoi polloi. As it happens, the man Kell needs is Wiggins. An ex-soldier with a talent for deduction perhaps second only to the Great Detective, Wiggins was a Baker Street Irregular, part of a gang of urchin investigators trained by Holmes himself. Unfortunately, Wiggins "don't do official," but when his best friend, Bill, is killed by Russian anarchists, Wiggins realizes that accepting the role of secret agent could give him the cover he needs to pursue revenge against Bill's killers. Tracking down the Russian gang responsible for the murder and assembling a motley network of allies and informants in the process, Wiggins begins to unravel a deadly international conspiracy.

The thrilling follow up to The Irregular: A Different Class of Spy, featuring Wiggins - an ex-soldier who was trained as a child by Sherlock Holmes. Praise for The Irregular 'H.B. Lyle has found the golden thread between Bond and Holmes' Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland 'Impressive period detail and sharp dialogue add charm to the strong plot' Daily Mail 'A thrilling story of espionage, murder and the creation of the Secret Service' Charles Cumming, author of A Colder War Now an agent of the newly-formed Secret Service, Wiggins is still determined to track down Peter the Painter, the murderer of his friend Bill. Meanwhile Captain Kell is under pressure to identify who is leaking vital information from the government and his wife Constance is getting dangerously close to the more militant faction of suffragettes. When Wiggins traces one of the old Baker Street Irregulars gang to a mysterious club in Belgravia, the action follows thick and fast in another brilliantly compelling novel of betrayal and suspense.

1912. Released from the Secret Service, Wiggins sets out for New York and his lost lover Bela. But after an altercation on board, he finds himself among the low-life of Britain's poorest city, Dublin. Wiggins falls in with gangster Patrick O'Connell and is soon driving the boss's girlfriend around town. Molly wants O'Connell to support her Irish nationalist cause - a cause needing guns to defeat the British - and then they go to find them in America. Finally, Wiggins can solve the mystery of Bela - and meet his old mentor, Sherlock Holmes in a story of escalating intrigue, danger and violence.