Baker Street Irregular

plural Baker Street Irregulars

1. A casual assistant, especially in the context of detection or solving crime.

   'And I don't understand your position at all. It seems quite irregular.' 'So it is, madam. I may be called a Baker Street Irregular. […]'

   2010, Michael Innes, Appleby's Other Story

   3 more examples

   I'd be glad to hear anything you might dig up. You could be a kind of Baker Street Irregular yourself. But please understand, the way it stands now the Harkness death is classified as a suicide or accident.

   2005, Lloyd Davis, Campus Delicti: A Dan Quarrier Mystery

   Though I truly loved them and the work they did, rescuing thousands of animals yearly, yet the roar of the presses and the fast pace of a whirlwind business held me captive. […] I remained a Baker Street irregular, still joining the first and last popular breakfast couple of New York in rescue efforts, appearing often as a guest on the program, forever their devoted admirer.

   2012, Jeanne Toomey, Assignment Homicide: Behind the Headlines, page 77

   "No, Jerry is a sort of Baker Street Irregular, and he's going to be my nephew." "You can't mean you've hired a little boy! Really, Kate..."

   2018, Amanda Cross, In the Last Analysis

2. A fan of Sherlock Holmes stories.

   On this night, in 1934 New York, a few enthusiasts met to celebrate the birthday of the man they most respected, admired and loved. The Baker Street Irregulars were officially born.

   2021 October 14, Anthony Boucher, The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars, Hachette UK, →ISBN

   1 more example

   This hope reflected Starrett's tongue-in-cheek faith as a Baker Street Irregular that Sherlock Holmes actually lived and that the stories about him were all factual, written by the faithful Doctor Watson from voluminous records.

   1952 December 29, Life, page 62