It is early 1916 and the world is at war. Sherlock Holmes is well into his spy persona as Altamont following the capture of the German spy Von Bork at the opening of the Great War. Watson is called to London by Mycroft Holmes and is asked to join Sherlock, who has infiltrated the Irish Volunteers. War within the United Kingdom could deal a decisive blow to the war effort and Holmes must find out the rebels plans, and if possible, stop the rebellion which appears imminent. He has need of Watson once again.

It is early 1916 and the world is at war. Sherlock Holmes is well into his spy persona as Altamont following the capture of the German spy Von Bork at the opening of the Great War. Watson is called to London by Mycroft Holmes and is asked to join Sherlock, who has infiltrated the Irish Volunteers. War within the United Kingdom could deal a decisive blow to the war effort and Holmes must find out the rebels plans, and if possible, stop the rebellion which appears imminent. He has need of Watson once again.

Few could have predicted the enduring fascination with the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes. From the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the recent BBC series that has made a heart-throb out of Benedict Cumberbatch, the sleuth has been much a part of the British and global cultural legacy from the moment of his first appearance in 1887. The contributors to this book discuss the ways in which various fan cultures have sprung up around the stories and how they have proved to be a strong cultural paradigm for the ways in which these phenomena function in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Essays explore the numerous adaptations, rewritings, rip-offs, role-playing, wiki and crowd sourced texts, virtual realities and faux scholarship Sherlock Holmes has inspired. Though fervid fan behaviour is often mis-characterized as a modern phenomenon, the historical roots of fan manifestation that have been largely forgotten are revived in this thrilling book. Complete with interviews with writers who have famously brought the character of Holmes back to life, the collection benefits from the vast knowledge of its contributors, including academics who teach in the field, archivists and a number of writers who have been involved in the enactment of Holmes stories on stage, screen and radio. The release of Fan Phenomena: Sherlock Holmes coincides with Holmes’s 160th birthday, so it is no mystery that it will make a welcome addition to the burgeoning scholarship on this timeless detective.

This third edition of John O'Beirne Ranelagh's classic history of Ireland incorporates contemporary political and economic events as well as the latest archaeological and DNA discoveries. Comprehensively revised and updated throughout, it considers Irish history from the earliest times through the Celts, Cromwell, plantations, famine, Independence, the Omagh bomb, peace initiatives, and financial collapse. It profiles the key players in Irish history from Diarmuid MacMurrough to Gerry Adams and casts new light on the events, North and South, that have shaped Ireland today. Ireland's place in the modern world and its relationship with Britain, the USA and Europe is also examined with a fresh and original eye. Worldwide interest in Ireland continues to increase, but whereas it once focused on violence in Northern Ireland, the tumultuous financial events in the South have opened fresh debates and drawn fresh interest. This is a new history for a new era.

Sherlock Holmes, the best-known detective (sorry, consulting detective) on earth, celebrates his one hundred and sixtieth birthday on 6 January 2014. As a tribute to his genius, and to mark the occasion, The Holmes Sutra is presented (by a crazed fan) as: (a) a compilation of one hundred and sixty mantras (aphorisms/slogans/sayings - call them what you will) - some original, some canonical, some based on various print/media adaptations - aimed to make Sherlock Holmes (and his fans) smile, and (b) a test of the readers' Holmes Mania Quotient (HMQ)- based on the resulting HMQ score, the particular condition/stage of Holmes Mania would be determined, with possibilities of a cure. Happy birthday, Sherlock - this is your birthday gift; hope you like it.

London, 1920: Boston-bred Enoch Hale, working as a reporter for the Central News Syndicate, arrives on the scene shortly after a music hall escape artist is found hanging from the ceiling in his dressing room. What at first appears to be a suicide turns out to be murder . . . the first of several using the same modus operandi. What s the connecting factor among all the victims? Or isn't there one? That's what the dogged journalist Hale aims to find out. Covering the Hangman Murders brings him into contact with a diverse cast of witnesses and interview subjects that include Winston Churchill, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Alfred Hitchcock, and Ezra Pound. Hale, whose best friend in London is the chain-smoking poet and banker T.S. (Tom) Eliot even makes a pilgrimage to the Sussex Downs to get an opinion on the case from the great detective Sherlock Holmes. The trip is in vain, but he eventually does meet Holmes in a most surprising encounter. Through it all there is another mystery, which perhaps goes to the mystery of the human heart. What is the lovely music hall singer Sadie Briggs concealing from Hale just her past or also her present?

London, 1922: Two years after helping Sherlock Holmes solve the Hangman Murders, American journalist Enoch Hale becomes even more intimately involved in another puzzling mystery. Langdale Pike, veteran purveyor of gossip to the trash newspapers, is poisoned while sipping tea with Hale - and apparently just as he is about to spill a secret more important than social gossip. With the unrequested aid of advertising copywriter Dorothy Sayers, Hale pursues a number of leads based on notes in Pike's pocket diary - including an interview with the formidable G.K. Chesterton. His attempts to uncover the identity of one of Pike's fellow club membersbring Hale the unwanted attention of Mycroft Holmes, head of His Majesty's Secret Service, and of his younger brother. Once again Enoch Hale and the theoretically retired but far from retiring Sherlock Holmes join forces to solve a crime that may have international complications. And this time Hale himself almost becomes a victim when he gets too close to the solution. This fast-moving tale is sure to please themany fans of the first Enoch Hale - Sherlock Holmes adventure, The Amateur Executioner.