Professor Moriarty

Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character who is the best known antagonist of the detective Sherlock Holmes. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime". (T. S. Eliot would later use the same phrase, in homage, to describe Macavity in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.) Conan Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was referring to Adam Worth, a true-life (though non-violent) model for Moriarty.

Moriarty's family

The stories give a number of indications about the Professor's family, some seemingly contradictory.

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In The Valley of Fear, Holmes says of him: "He is unmarried. His younger brother is a station master in the west of England." In The Final Problem, Watson refers to "the recent letters in which Colonel James Moriarty defends the memory of his brother."

Related Topics:
The Valley of Fear - The Final Problem

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In neither story are we told the Professor's own first name; it is only in The Empty House that Holmes refers to Professor James Moriarty.

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The question of how many Moriarty brothers this makes, and which of them is called James, has provided much amusement for Sherlock Holmes fans in the years since the stories were first published.

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