The Final Problem and The Return of Sherlock Holmes

The Final Problem
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
★★★★☆

I thought I knew the basic premise of this story when I started it, but it turns out I knew the whole thing. This incredibly slim volume is considered the final of only four novels in the Sherlock Holmes series. There are many additional short stories.

Written from Watson’s point-of-view we see an increasingly paranoid Sherlock taking extreme measures to escape his arch-nemesis Dr. Moriarty. The pair, one an unconventional, brilliant detective, the other a criminal mastermind are perfectly matched. Sherlock has finally found his intellectual equal; unfortunately they are pitted against one another. You can’t help but hear the admiration in Sherlock’s voice as he describes the villains’ evil empire.

Here’s a bit about Moriarty in Sherlock’s own words…

“He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the center of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them. He does little himself. He only plans.”

BOTTOM LINE: A worthy conclusion to Sherlock’s story, I only wish it had been longer! I would still recommend The Sign of Four as the best place to start if you’re new to Sherlock.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (The Empty Room)

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

★★★★☆

Three years after Sherlock’s death at the hands of Moriarty, Dr. Watson is shocked to discover he’s actually alive and well! He was so shocked in fact he faints for the first and only time in his life.

The story that follows explains Sherlock’s absence over the past couples years and his current predicament. Some of Moriarty’s agents are trying to find and kill him and they’ll stop at nothing to do so. The clever Holmes devises a plan to not only catch his enemies, but also to solve an open case for the police at the same time.

**SPOILERS**

Colonel Moran is Sherlock’s pursuer in this novella. He is an admired military man with a reputation as an skilled hunter. Sherlock compares Colonel Moran (to his face) to the very tigers he hunted for so many years. It must have been salt in the wound to someone so proud of his ability to hunt. Holmes had no qualms about insulting him and making sure he understood that he was now the captured prey. Clearly the brilliant Sherlock has returned.

**SPOILERS OVER**

BOTTOM LINE: An excellent story and a must read for anyone who finishes The Final Problem. 

I read both of these as part of the R.I.P. Challenge hosted here.