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The book, which follows Ross as he takes up the position of coach of the Andorra National Rugby team sees him trying to come to terms with the break up of his marriage as well as the loss of his daughter to another man. The road to maturity for Ross, however, is fraught with obstacles and this book sees a more adult Ross; I mean, he doesn’t even shag anyone for Fock’s sake!

Howard himself admitted that he doesn’t seen an end for Ross anytime soon, and that he has a definite plan for Ireland’s answer to Julio Inglesias for at least book nine and ten. When asked whether the genre of the books will change now that Ireland is officially in a ‘Recession’, Howard replied that he doesn’t think so as the main characters in his books all made their fortunes during the recession of the 80’s. “Sure, anyone can make a fortune during a boom, but it takes a special man to make one during a recession”.

He also admitted that material was now a little harder to come by; he entered Starbucks in Blackrock recently and upon entry to the establishment frequented by his characters, heard someone yell out “Oi guys, here he comes, watch what you say!” However, one of the advantages of Celtic Tiger Ireland, he says, is that people are now a lot more outspoken; on buses, trains and in cafes, and don’t feel the need to whisper their tales to each other.

And to back up this fact he gave the anecdote of two secondary school pupils he recently overheard on the bus talking about a recent Leaving Cert holiday and some poor boy who had the misfortune of being raped while on holiday in Aiya Napa…twice…all this to the audible horror of anyone who happened to be sitting on the same floor of the bus with them.

Howard also made some sly digs at recent Government Legislation to guarantee funds in banks by remarking that Ross will manage to get through the recession as, like the banks, he has unlimited cover from his father so he knows he can behave as badly as he wants, safe in the knowledge that he will be covered financially in the future.

As well as reading from his new book and revealing where he hopes to take the character of Ross, Howard also gave an insight into where some of his characters came from. Revealing that Ross himself was partly created from three specific friends of his, as well as the worst parts of popular Irish culture, Howard also told that the character of Charles was based on an old editor of The Sunday Tribune, while one F is actually the real journalist Derek Foley who writes for The Star.

Most interestingly, however, was his admission that the character of Ronan, the eight year old ‘skobie’ son of Ross, was based on his nephew who, when driving past a methadone clinic at age eight, claimed ‘I’ll be in there meself in a coupla years toyim’.

Overall, Howard didn’t leave fans disappointed and even stayed to sign books afterwards for anyone who wanted. His book, “Mr. S and the Secrets of Andorra’s Box”, while showing an increasing human side to Ross O’Carroll Kelly, still possesses the wit and intelligence to crack up even the most strait-laced reader. And for those of you who haven’t read the book, look out for the twist at the end. Howard admits that the aim was to shock his readers and he believes he has done so with this twist. “If you can still shock readers after eight books, you know you must be doing something right.” And believe me, Howard is definitely doing something right.