The heirs of the Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) have chosen the English novelist and journalist Gareth Rubin to continue the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the famous Baker Street detective. And they have already announced a new book about the father of all private investigators: it is called “Holmes and Moriarty” and will be published by Simon & Schuster on September 12th in Great Britain, simultaneously worldwide in around twenty countries (in Italy it will be published by Longanesi).
The plot
Gareth Rubin, an established mystery writer, alongside Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, his inevitable sidekick, features his arch-enemy, Professor James Moriarty, combining the investigative ability of the talented detective with that of his great adversary, a criminal mind who he runs an invisible network of thieves, murderers and blackmailers and yet never leaves a trace connecting him to the crime scene.
In London in 1903 Holmes and Watson have been hired by the actor George Reynolds: he wants them to discover why the audience who comes to see him play every night in the theater is made up of the same people, only they wear disguises. Is something sinister going on, and if so, what? Meanwhile, Holmes’ archenemy, Professor James Moriarty, has his own problems. Involved in the murder of a gang leader, Moriarty and his right-hand man, Moran, must flee from the police to find out who is behind the charade. But their investigation puts them in the path of Holmes and Watson and it’s not long before all four realize they’re being targeted by the same person. With lives at stake, not just their own, they must form an uneasy alliance to unmask the real villain. With clues leading them to a hotel in Switzerland and a conspiracy much bigger than they bargained for, who can they trust and will any of them survive?
Conan Doyle’s characters and the choice of sequels
“One of our goals is to introduce the world to more Conan Doyle characters. Not just Moriarty, but also those from other Holmes mysteries, such as Colonel Sebastian Moran, or other adventure series, such as the Professor Challenger stories,” said Richard Pooley, great-grandson of Arthur Conan Doyle and responsible for the literary estate along with Conan Doyle’s great-grandson, Richard Doyle, and his great-granddaughter, Catherine Bates. The family approved Rubin’s book, “Holmes and Moriarty,” as a worthy sequel. “Gareth drew these characters very well, including Colonel Moran, who is central to this story,” Pooley added. “Moran was described by Holmes as ‘the second most dangerous man in London’ and tells half of this new mystery. As Moriarty’s right-hand man, he appears in only a couple of original Holmes stories.”
Efforts to make a new sequel to an established work have become crucial to profitably managing a literary estate such as that of Conan Doyle’s descendants. The idea of creating a bond between Holmes and Rubin, a Londoner who works at the “Observer” and is best known for his recent bestseller “The Turnglass” (in Italian “The crystal hourglass was published in 2023 by Longanesi) , came to writer Jon Wood’s agent More than a decade ago, it was Wood who suggested Anthony Horowitz write the previous authorized Holmes titles in 2011 and 2014.
There is also a TV series in sight
“Gareth has really developed the characters and is so good at dialogue,” said descendant Richad Pooley, who suspects that Moran, “a young guy,” could now start a series of his own. But there is also potential, he believes, in Professor Challenger and the fighter Stone. Mycroft, Sherlock’s lonely brother, and the villain Irene Adler, the only opponent who got the better of Holmes and who was later always called “the woman”, also play an important role in the Holmes mythology.
“We’re already talking to people who want to take Irene Adler to develop a television series. Most of Conan Doyle’s recurring characters were men, although the stories are often about women in danger. This all comes from her character. The most important in his life were his mother and his second wife,” Pooley said. “His father was useless and an alcoholic, and so all the stories about him are about chivalry. Sherlock and Doctor Watson always save women.”