THE RETURN OF MORIARTY

We don't know how to square this tale of evil, based on the journals of the notorious Moriarity himself, with the intelligence lately provided by the good Watson (The Seven Per-Cent Solution, p. 650). Even though, according to the present source, there were no less than three James Moriaritys, all brothers. Anyway, Moriarity minimus, having done away with Moriarity maximus (the real Professor), sets up as the overlord of London crime, heading a large and unappetizing family of thugs, robbers, whores, assassins and con men. They all operate out of a lavishly done up warehouse down by the docks where Moriarity, between heists, presides over his clan rather like an English Godfather. The subplots are too numerous to get into but they include the encroachments of a rival gang and the police work of a certain Inspector Crow who is hard on the pseudo-Professor's tail. Much to our disappointment the Baker Street detective makes only a perfunctory appearance. We are told that Holmes and Moriarity reached a pact to live and let live at Reichenbach Falls — a revelation that is hard to credit. Gardner's picture of the London underworld of the 1890's lacks the interest of the original Holmes stories; Moriarity's confederates are a dull bunch of heavies and the Professor himself matches Holmes only in his appreciation of fine food. Gardner is just not in a class with Watson and the plot bears only a tangential relationship to the original canon.