Showing results for "The Final Problem" in Classics

Sherlock Holmes meets his most impressive adversary yet: criminal mastermind Professor James Moriarty. Holmes has been tracking Moriarty for months, determined to bring him to justice. Yet Moriarty is as determined to bring about the downfall of Holmes. Their battle to defeat each other ends up in Switzerland - and on the brink of a cliff overlooking a perilously high and powerful waterfall.

The Final Problem is a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring his detective character Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Strand Magazine under the title "The Adventure of the Final Problem" in December 1893. It appears in book form as part of the collection The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. This story, set in 1891, introduced Holmes's archenemy, the criminal mastermind Professor James Moriarty. Conan Doyle later ranked The Final Problem fourth on his personal list of the twelve best Holmes stories. Holmes arrives at Dr. John Watson's residence one evening in a somewhat agitated state and with grazed and bleeding knuckles.

Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 22nd May 1859. His literary career burst into life in November 1886 with ‘A Study In Scarlet’, the first of the fabulously successful Sherlock Holmes stories. In 1891 tired of writing Holmes stories, he began a series of historical novels and even went so far as to apparently kill off Holmes in a lethal brawl with his arch-nemesis, Moriarty.

In "The Final Problem", perhaps the greatest of the short stories of Sherlock Holmes, the English detective encounters his most formidable rival, Professor Moriarty. 'The Napoleon of Crime' is how Holmes describes his adversary to his faithful companion, Dr Watson, as they move to the ultimate confrontation at the Reichenbach Falls.

Sherlock Holmes’ determination to destroy the powerful criminal organization of Professor Moriarty reaches its crisis as Holmes and Watson attempt to track down and finally apprehend the criminal genius behind the most foul and evil events plaguing the good people of England.