''The Last Sherlock Holmes Story'' is a

Sherlock Holmes pastiche Sherlock Holmes has long been a popular character for pastiche, Holmes-related work by authors and creators other than Arthur Conan Doyle. Their works can be grouped into four broad categories: *New Sherlock Holmes stories *Stories in which Holm ...

novel by

Michael Dibdin Michael Dibdin (21 March 1947 – 30 March 2007) was a British crime writer, best known for inventing Aurelio Zen, the principal character in 11 crime novels set in Italy. Early life Dibdin was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (now West M ...

. The novel is an account of Holmes's attempt to solve the

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer w ...

murders. Holmes suspects the Ripper to be his nemesis, James Moriarty. There is a twist ending, revealing that Holmes himself had invented the character of Moriarty due to insanity, and was himself committing the crimes, a twist which some reviewers have found to be clever while others found disappointing. There is also an ambiguity to the revelation as, despairing, Holmes tries to explain to his companion Dr. John H. Watson that Moriarty has fooled Watson and framed Holmes.''The Last Sherlock Holmes Story''
review at epinions

References

1978 British novels Sherlock Holmes novels Sherlock Holmes pastiches Novels set in London Jonathan Cape books {{1970s-crime-novel-stub 1978 debut novels

See also

References