The Final Problem

The Final Problem was a Sherlock Holmes novel by Arthur Conan Doyle. It first appeared in the Christmas issue of The Strand on 25 December 1893. (PROSE: The Bodysnatchers)

Most notably, the novel was originally to have been the final in the Holmes series and featured his apparent death at the Reichenbach Falls with both him and his archenemy, Moriaty falling to their demise. (COMIC: Character Assassin; AUDIO: The Monstrous Menagerie) However, the detail given in the book suggested that he could have faked his death as many fans including Sergeant Quick thought. Quick noted that Holmes' body was never found and Henry Gordon Jago questioned John Watson's reliability as a narrator, a theory which George Litefoot supported.

Doyle had decided to kill of the character after he started to keep him from writing "better" things. In 1893, Doyle's father died and his wife was diagnosed with terminal consumption. Realising the finite nature of life he lamented that he would be remembered for adventure stories and started to write more serious historical novels such as Micah Clarke and The Stark Munro Letters. (AUDIO: The Monstrous Menagerie)

Holmes' death did not stick (COMIC: Character Assassin) and in 1894 Doyle was persuaded to write The Hound of the Baskervilles after being told that Holmes would be remembered until the 63rd century as well as doing so as a message so that contemporaries could go back in time and save himself, Jago, Litefoot, and Laura Lyons from Roger Baskerville. (AUDIO: The Monstrous Menagerie)

Despite reviving the character and being in talks with the editor of The Strand to write more in 1902, Doyle was still frustrated with being known solely for Holmes, angrily telling Martha Jones that he had "killed the fellow off" and that his knighthood was for The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct as well as his medical work rather than for his fiction. (PROSE: Revenge of the Judoon)