The Irregular: A Different Class of Spy

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SPY HUNTER SHORTLISTED FOR THE SPYMASTERS BEST ESPIONAGE NOVEL OF 2025, ALONGSIDE THE PEACOCK AND THE SPARROW BY I.S. BERRY AND GABRIEL'S MOON BY WILLIAM BOYD

'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.

Critics Review

[A] twist-filled adventure that proves far from elementary
Wall Street Journal
A thrilling story of espionage, murder and the creation of the Secret Service
Charles Cumming, author of A Colder War
A flavoursome smorgasbord that features not only Holmes but also Winston Churchill, this is irresistible stuff
Barry Forshaw, Guardian
A fine first entry in what promises to be a great new series. Wiggins is a captivating hero, and Lyle draws his Edwardian backstreets in convincing colour. The game is most definitely afoot.
Mick Herron, author of Slow Horses
A good deal of excitement and some enjoyable riffing on both the history of espionage and the Conan Doyle canon, with cameos of everybody from Winston Churchill to Mr Holmes himself... the book is a treat
Sunday Express
Impressive period detail and sharp dialogue add charm to the strong plot
Daily Mail
H.B. Lyle has found the golden thread between Bond and Holmes in a thriller which engages on every page
Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland
An exciting, action packed adventure ... Lyle has chosen an interesting and highly engaging way to take the Sherlock Holmes legacy in a new and thrilling direction
Shots
It is hard to generate something new in such an avalanche of well-worn tropes, but H.B. Lyle has managed to do that quite cleverly in The Irregular
Crime Time
The pacing in The Irregular is near perfect... a rip-roaring page-turner of a book and a rollicking good read
The Tattooed Book Geek
A fast-moving, hugely enjoyable story with interesting characters and authentic background...It is the first of a series, and I look forward to the sequels
The Historical Novel Society
I thoroughly enjoyed H.B. Lyle's The Irregular, which imagines Wiggins, the street urchin who helps Holmes in Conan Doyle's tales, grown up and working for the real-life spymaster Vernon Kell...Smart, sophisticated...will still appeal to those unrefined readers - like me - who devoured the Holmes stories when we were young, and secretly believe that nothing in life has been as exciting since
Daily Telegraph

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