| rdfs:comment | - In the story, the brilliant consulting detective Sherlock Holmes has discovered that nearly all crimes which are committed in London are the work of one gang. The gang is headed by one man, Professor Moriarty, whom Holmes calls "the Napoleon of crime" and acknowledges as his intellectual equal. Holmes has gathered evidence against Moriarty and his gang which should lead to their arrest, conviction and execution. When Moriarty finds out about this, Holmes' life is in danger. Accompanied by his friend Dr. John Watson, Holmes flees to Switzerland. Moriarty pursues Holmes there and confronts him at Reichenbach Falls. Dr. Watson arrives at the scene later and is under the impression that both Moriarty and Holmes have fallen to their deaths.
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| abstract | - In the story, the brilliant consulting detective Sherlock Holmes has discovered that nearly all crimes which are committed in London are the work of one gang. The gang is headed by one man, Professor Moriarty, whom Holmes calls "the Napoleon of crime" and acknowledges as his intellectual equal. Holmes has gathered evidence against Moriarty and his gang which should lead to their arrest, conviction and execution. When Moriarty finds out about this, Holmes' life is in danger. Accompanied by his friend Dr. John Watson, Holmes flees to Switzerland. Moriarty pursues Holmes there and confronts him at Reichenbach Falls. Dr. Watson arrives at the scene later and is under the impression that both Moriarty and Holmes have fallen to their deaths. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had originally intended "The Final Problem" to be the last story that he would write about Sherlock Holmes. Doyle decided to kill off Sherlock Holmes in the story but made his death a heroic one in which he dies defeating the greatest criminal mastermind of the age. Doyle would bring the character back for the 1902 novel The Hound of the Baskervilles, although its action takes place before that of "The Final Problem". In the 1903 short story "The Adventure of the Empty House", it is revealed that Holmes had not died at Reichenbach Falls. Doyle would continue to write more stories about Holmes until 1927. There have been numerous adaptations of "The Final Problem" to other media, often in combination with other stories about Holmes and Watson. In a list of the twelve best Sherlock Holmes stories, compiled for The Strand magazine in 1927, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle named "The Final Problem" as his fourth favorite, following "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", "The Red-Headed League" and "The Adventure of the Dancing Men".
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