Sherlock Holmes

Observations: This is the longest of all the short stories, the first
to contain a map illustration, and also the first to be split across
two issues of The Strand. Percy Phelps’ uncle is said to be a
reference to Arthur Balfour’s uncle, Lord Salisbury (Robert
Cecil, the Conservative prime minister and foreign secretary).
Cecil’s nepotism inspired the phrase ‘Bob’s your uncle’. As a
point of historical accuracy, between 1887 and 1896, Great
Britain did have a secret treaty with Italy called the
‘Mediterranean Agreements’, signed by Lord Salisbury.
Verdict: The PG Wodehouse-type Phelps does a lot of ejaculating
in yet another story that features sustained brain fever as a
means of furthering the action. But it’s an intriguing case, and
one that truly exercises Holmes’ deductive powers. In the
charming aside about the rose, it seems that Doyle is deliber-
ately opening up Holmes’ character prior to his (intended) last
appearance in print. 4/5
S H E R L O C K H O L M E S
• 58 •

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26) The Adventure of the Final Problem
UK: The Strand Magazine (December 1893, SP); USA: McClure’s
Magazine (December 1893, HCE)
The Case: Holmes is throwing his net around an evil master-
mind of crime…
Date: 24 April–6 May 1891.
Characters: Professor Moriarty, Mycroft Holmes, Peter Steiler,
messenger boy, Colonel James Moriarty, Mary Watson, Inspector
Patterson.
Locations: Watson’s practice, backing onto Mortimer Street;
Lowther Arcade; Victoria Station; Canterbury Station;
Brussels; Strasbourg hotel; Valley of the Rhône, Gemmi Pass;
Englischer Hof, Meiringen; Reichenbach Falls, Switzerland;
221B Baker Street; Mycroft’s rooms, Pall Mall; corner of Marylebone
Lane and Bentinck Street; Vere Street.
Recorded Cases: A Study in Scarlet,The Naval Treaty.
Unrecorded Cases: A French Government case in Nîmes and
Narbonne, the Royal Family of Scandinavia.
Holmes: If he could beat Moriarty, he would retire – the French
government alone has paid him enough to do so. Senses
Moriarty’s influence in a host of unrelated crimes over the
years. Is casting his net over Moriarty, but needs proof to
convict him – although he would risk death to bring him to
justice. After 1,000 cases, he feels he would like to look into
more natural mysteries. Carries a silver cigarette case.
Mycroft: Disguises himself as a coachman and is an expert at
driving a cab.
Moriarty: He pervades London, but no one has heard of him. He
is of good birth, clever, a skilled mathematician.At 21 he wrote
a treatise on the Binomial Theorem and won a mathematical
chair at a small university. But he had hereditary criminal
T H E C A N O N
• 59 •

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tendencies and had to resign his post, coming to London where
he set up as an army coach (presumably he ‘crammed’ men for
the Sandhurst entrance exam). Now he controls the majority
of criminals in London – they do his bidding and, if they are
caught, he is never detected. Has a crime syndicate responsible
for over 40 unsolved crimes. He is tall, thin, clean shaven, pale
and ascetic with a domed forehead and sunken eyes. He is also
round-shouldered and his head slopes forward and oscillates
slightly from side to side as he talks. Has studied phrenology.
Disguise: An old Italian priest.
Quotable Quote: ‘[Moriarty] is the Napoleon of crime, Watson.
He is the organiser 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 centre of its web…’