The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Moriarty

The Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes's Nemesis - 37 short stories

By: Maxim Jakubowski

Narrated by: Toby Longworth

We think of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, but far more seductive is the pairing of Holmes and Professor James Moriarty, 'the Napoleon of crime' - a rivalry unparalleled in the world of crime fiction. Fiercely intelligent and a relentless schemer, Moriarty is the supervillain as megastar.

This wonderfully diverse collection by writers such as Martin Edwards, Jürgen Ehlers, Barbara Nadel, L. C. Tyler, Michael Gregorio, Alison Joseph and Peter Guttridge reveals not just the evil side of Moriarty's personality but his humanity, his motivations and his human failings. Some of the stories are humorous, some scary, but all are hugely entertaining.

Maxim Jakubowski is a London-based novelist and editor. He was born in the UK and educated in France. Following a career in book publishing, he opened the world-famous Murder One bookshop in London in 1988. He compiles two acclaimed annual series for the Mammoth list: Best New Erotica and Best British Crime. He is a winner of the Anthony and the Karel Awards, a frequent TV and radio broadcaster, crime columnist for the Guardian newspaper and literary director of London's Crime Scene Festival.

©2015 Maxim Jakubowski (P)2015 Audible, Ltd

Stories from the Sherlock Holmes Universe

It is hard to find a short story collection where most of the stories are good. This is one of the rare ones. Only a couple of clunkers.

Not what you might be thinking

While the stories are well written, for the most part, a few of them are completely nonsensical. I bought this with the understanding that it isn't a Sherlock Holmes book, and that's fine. What's not fine is stories about alien invasions, grotesque medical procedures, fanboy love stories, or steampunk. I was looking for Holmes-esqu stories about Moriarty and his varied criminal escapades, of which they're are a few, but not nearly as many as they're should have been. solid 3 out of 5.

Honestly, not that great...

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I won't be recommending this book to anyone I know. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love The Sherlock universe and I think Moriarty is one of literature's best antagonists. That being said, if you're like me, you might not like this book either.

One problem is that most of the authors write about the reichenbach falls, which means most of the stories contradict themselves in one way or another. Some stories he dies, some he lives, some he intends to go over, some he barely escapes with his life.

Next, some stories completely break from the genre. I really wasn't interested in hearing about Moriarty fighting an alien invasion or planning a caper with woodland creatures.

So if you buy this book, I hope you know what you're getting into, because I did not, and that's why I eventually had to return it.

More hits than misses

As this is an anthology book some stories work better than others. That said, this anthology of Professor Moriarty stories is at its worst mildly entertaining and at its best truly fun and utterly original. Different aspects of Moriarty like the finer points of his criminal empire, his true feelings about his nemesis, and why he is the way he is are explored. While I consider Kim Newman’s Moriarty novel THE definitive Moriarty novel (outside the Arthur Conan Doyle canon), this is a close second. I love a good villain, and there are few villains better than Moriarty so if you appreciate literary villainy and seeing your favorite characters outside their usual environment definitely give it a look.

Excellent in every way!

Great subtle narratio, diverse compelling stories. Out of the 30 some stories there wasn’t one that I didn’t like, though some were better than others. Maybe it could have included a little more comedy or parody, but maybe not.

Great Narration, Otherwise Garbage

Have you ever wondered, like, what if Professor Moriarty fought aliens, fairies, and was a Persian immortal?

No?

Yeah, me neither. I've been through like 10 of these and while some of them start off promising, they inevitably veer off course into some ridiculous genre-bending nonsense. I don't know how you put together an anthology consisting solely of people who have no respect for the original stories, but I guess the editor doesn't either. The only plus side of this has been introducing me to a fantastic narrator, and providing me a list of authors to avoid like the plague.

Random stories, w/ the names of Doyle's characters

Sci-fi, fantasy, online reviews- seemingly every genre but mystery in this collection with the only association with Holmes and Moriarty is using their names and sometimes being in their time frame. They don't even seem to be aimed at fans of Holmes.