A Duel with the Devil

Review: This is a collection of three cases where Holmes encountered Professor Moriarty. These are tales that Watson hesitated to chronicle while Moriarty had not been convicted of any crimes. The tales are ingenious, perhaps too much so, but they are interesting. They are also nastier than tales from the Canon, perhaps because they are realistic in the 20th Century, hard-boiled fashion. Criminals and crimes are, after all, nasty things.

The first tale, The Case of the Dishonoured Professor, details Moriarty's revenge on the school where he lost his professorship. It is fiendish and complex and the revenge is not at all apparent as such. It is also the best of the stories, but it is not a pleasent read.

The Case of the Baffled Courier recalls The Red-Headed League and The Three Garridebs. It is a fairly straight-forward tale whose mystery lies mostly in the inverted way it is presented. Students of the Canon will catch on quickly.

The final case, Moriarty's Fiendish Plan, is quite complicated. It is so complex that several features are never fully explained and seem to exist only for embellishment. The "mystery" is not so much solved as it is allowed to unfold and the "fiendish plan" is foiled at the last moment in Hollywood fashion.

If you can find this book at a library, read it before spending your money. You may not like it enough to buy it, ingenious mysteries or no. I didn't, but had already bought it.

Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, October 2003