The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Professor Moriarty

by Maxim Jakubowski (Editor)

The hidden life of Sherlock Holmes’s most famous adversary is reimagined and revealed by the finest crime writers today.

Some of literature’s greatest supervillains have also become its most intriguing antiheroes—Dracula, Hannibal Lecter, Lord Voldemort, and Norman Bates—figures that capture our imagination. Perhaps the greatest of these is Professor James Moriarty. Fiercely intelligent and a relentless schemer, Professor Moriarty is the perfect foil to the inimitable Sherlock Holmes, whose crime-solving acumen could only be as brilliant as Moriarty’s cunning.

While “the Napoleon of crime” appeared in only two of Conan Doyle’s original stories, Moriarty’s enigma is finally revealed in this diverse anthology of thirty-seven new Moriarty stories, reimagined and retold by leading crime writers such as Martin Edwards, Jürgen Ehlers, Barbara Nadel, L. C. Tyler, Michael Gregorio, Alison Joseph and Peter Guttridge. In these intelligent, compelling stories—some frightening and others humorous—Moriarty is brought back vividly to new life, not simply as an incarnation of pure evil but also as a fallible human being with personality, motivations, and subtle shades of humanity.

Filling the gaps of the Conan Doyle canon, The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Professor Moriarty is a must-read for any fan of the Sherlock Holmes’s legacy.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Historical Fiction, Crime, Detective

592 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2015

About the author

Maxim Jakubowski is a crime, erotic, and science fiction writer and critic.

Jakubowski was born in England by Russian-British and Polish parents, but raised in France. Jakubowski has also lived in Italy and has travelled extensively. Jakubowski edited the science fiction anthology Twenty Houses of the Zodiac in 1979 for the 37th World Science Fiction Convention (Seacon '79) in Brighton. He also contributed a short story to that anthology. He has now published almost 100 books in a variety of areas.

He has worked in book publishing for many years, which he left to open the Murder One bookshop[1], the UK's first specialist crime and mystery bookstore. He contributes to a variety of newspapers and magazines, and was for eight years the crime columnist for Time Out and, presently, since 2000, the crime reviewer for The Guardian. He is also the literary director of London's Crime Scene Festival and a consultant for the International Mystery Film Festival, Noir in Fest, held annually in Courmayeur, Italy. He is one the leading editors in the crime and mystery and erotica field, in which he has published many major anthologies.

His novels include "It's You That I Want To Kiss", "Because She Thought She Loved Me", "The State Of Montana", "On Tenderness Express", "Kiss me Sadly" and "Confessions of a Romantic Pornographer". His short story collections are "Life in the World of Women", "Fools for Lust" and the collaborative "American Casanova". He is a regular broadcaster on British TV and radio and was recently voted the 4th Sexiest Writer of 2,007 on a poll on the crimespace website.

Reviews

[Kinga · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of short stories focusing on James Moriarty and his point of view. There were many great stories in this book and I enjoyed them. As I listened to these, I didn't remember the titles and I had to listen to a couple at a time at most. Wonderful collection for all lovers of Sherlock Holmes.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book of short stories involving Sherlock Holmes arch enemy Professor James Moriarty.

Some stories also feature Colonel Sebastian Moran, Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, and Mycroft Holmes.

Some stories propose a reversal of canon where it is Moriarty who survives the Reichenbach Falls. Moriarty as a child, as a young man, as a very old man. The possibilities are endless, and also entertaining.

Unusually for an anthology, the story quality was high through out.

My favourite stories were by:
Priscilla Masters
Keith Moray
David Stuart Davies

All in all an excellent anthology. Highly recommended.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading some of the finest Moriarty stories penned by Michael Kurland and Kim Newman, I simply HAD to read more stuff involoving the Professor. And thus I got hold of this book.
Similar to most anthologies, this one had its share of 'meh' and boring stories. But it also had several stories that shone with subdued menace and a dark humour that made the experience of reading them simultaneously claustrophobic and refreshing. Those stories were:
1. 'Dynamics of an Asteroid' by Lavie Tidhar
2. 'The Importance of Porlock' by Amy Myers
3. 'How the Professor Taught a Lesson to the Gnoles' by Josh Reynolds
4. 'The Case of the Choleric Cotton Broker' by Martin Edwards
5. 'The Adventure of the Lost Theorem' by Julie Novakova
6. 'The Last Professor Moriarty Story' by Andrew Lane
7. 'Quid Pro Quo' by Ashley R. Lister
8. 'The Perfect Crime' by G.H. Finn
9. 'Fade to Black' by Michael Gregorio
10. 'The Death of Moriarty' by Peter Guttridge.
Rest of stories were readable, but I found most of them to be either tedious or implausible. But overall, this hefty tome is a decent addition to the series of Mammoth anthologies.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty good. It was a whole book on Moriarty and his adventures, written by a whole bunch of different people.

[Sarah Brehm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won a free copy of The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Professor Moriarty from Goodreads Giveaways.

Andrew Scott's portrayal of Moriarty in BBC's Sherlock is one of the best villains, well, ever. I mean, just look at him.

He's perfectly psycho. (I'll save my rant about why S4 of Sherlock was less than stellar for later).

So, yeah, going into this anthology, I was kind of hoping that some authors would choose a modern take on Moriarty, a la Andrew Scott. Alas, none did. A few stories dived into different genres, but most of the stories stuck to Doyle's original timeline and familiar places.

I found I enjoyed the stories better if I spaced them out, instead of reading several back to back. This was because the few phrases that Doyle used to describe Professor Moriarty, like "the Napoleon of crime" showed up in practically every story and it got a bit repetitive.

And here is a list, in no particular order, of the stories that I enjoyed.
"Quid Pro Quo" by Ashley R. Lister
"The Last Professor Moriarty Story" by Andrew Lane
"Malady of the Mind Doctor" by Howard Halstead
"The Protege" by Kate Ellis
"Obsession" by Russel D. McLean
"Fade to Black" by Michael Gregorio
"The Copenhagen Compound" by Thomas S. Roche
"Moriarty's Luck" by L.C. Tyler
"The Modeska Waltz" by Rose Biggin
"The Shape of the Skull" by Anoushka Haviden
"The Perfect Crime" by G.H. Finn

Bonus gif!

[Dale Parnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very engaging collection of stories that flesh out the character of Moriarty, great to dip into from time to time since each version is slightly different and gives you a different impression of the Holmes universe.

[Bonnie Dale Keck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kindle unlimited?

Do not remember if this collection ku or not, got it on freebie day, I think maybe, and while I thought a couple or so were good, the length of it has caused those names to escape, and the couple or so at least interesting one otherwise, to mingle with and mar the interesting and good ones of the starting ones, leaving me to wonder what thought, if any, went into the order or selection of the stories, writers, and theme limits, if any. I took me a very long time to complete reading, with fair number of various days stopping the laborious journey until I could face the task of restarting the collection. I know that Amazon ratings have 3 as so called bad or negative, but again I state 3 means average, no more nor less. I do not love it but I do not hate it, it is average. I the world of books, that is not the worst thing but neither is it the best. It is not memorable in its can take it or leave it ordinary world where so many books vie for attention. I would not wish anyone the impossible hope that the majority of this supposed Moriarty collection would leave them with any less of confusion as to why it was considered the ways it was compiled.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was put off at first from this behemoth size of a book, however, it indeed has proven itself to be a satisfying read. The book is comprised of a number of short stories, starring in a unique formula, the formidable arch-nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, Professor James Moriarty. It should be noted that some stories aren't as riveting and I must confess that I have skipped a few. Some stories are quite ludicrous, I recalled one that involved alien Martians in tentacle form, trying to take over the world, even killing Holmes on sight. There is also another story, where the professor became an immortal through some sort of Dr. Jekyll-esque formula and is able to transform himself into any age and ethnicity, whenever he thinks fit. Nonetheless, there are many other stories that seemed to made up for it, with their clever writing and witty plots.

[Dan Rees · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Mammoth Book" is a good description. Because it is an anthology of short stories, I did not feel I had to read it all without breaks for other reading. Likewise, as an anthology, it was a mixed bag. One or two I heartily disliked; a few were so-so, and some I enjoyed thoroughly. Overall, I decided to give it a 4-star rating. As was to be expected, some of the stories were, from the perspective of the "canon," a whitewashing of Moriarty's character. Also, it was not surprising that several of the writers decided to accept the premise that not only Holmes but Moriarty survived Reichenbach. I think I actually preferred the stories that examined the concept "what was Moriarty like when he was a student, before his work in mathematics became known." Other readers will undoubtedly have their own favorites and their own dislikes. I recommend that you dive in and see what your own preferences are.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was impressed at the various takes on "The Napoleon of Crime". Some featured Moriarty in school. (Nasty little genius brat in one. He blackmailed his tutor and drove his headmaster to drink.) Several - almost all - were post-Reichenbach Falls. One has our evil genius running his various world-wide crime empires and various major governments from a penthouse in Dubai. Several were disturbing. A few with Irene Adler as an unwilling accomplice. Mycroft Holmes makes various appearances. So does Sherlock Holmes, of course.

The quality of each story varied. One was too descriptive ["Cut out the poetry, Watson!"]. Others relied too much on Moriarty's mathematics maven side. Still, the Professor was at the top of his evil form.

[Manoj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though Moriarty is Holmes' nemesis, he has never really been fleshed out in Conan Doyle's work. To put it simply, Moriarty is always in the shadows, with John Watson not even meeting professor Moriarty once.
This is the gap that The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Professor Moriarty tries to address. The collection of short stories in the collection have been selected well from a wide range of authors. Thje stories explore many aspects of Moriarty's life, and range from simple crime all the way to science fiction and pyschology.

Overall, The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Professor Moriarty, should be a fun read for all Conan Doyle fans who haven't had ther fill of Holmes' tales.

[Michael R. Zuelke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this collection of Moriarty short stories to be very good in some cases and rather poor in others. I suppose that is to be expected when you read an anthology of many authors. Some of the selections were very entertaining and others I skipped after a page or two. Maybe I was just not in the mood for those later ones so I tried them over again. Unfortunately they did not improve. Some remained so weird and convoluted that I did not try a third reading. That being said I would still recommend this book for Sherlock fans who want a little more of the Moriarty character.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly enjoyable read. The short stories are unequal and (in my opinion) the book would have benefited to have different stories in the beginning - there are a couple of short stories which are very similar and almost back to back which almost made me drop the book. But I thoroughly enjoyed it (must have disliked 1-2 stories at most), all of them were very enjoyable, from stories that could fit in the Holmes canon to very original stories (the sort of crossover with Wells' "War of the Worlds" is one of my favourites).

[James Crabtree · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good collection of short stories about Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' sinister enemy who was actually a worthy opponent. The various writers came up with ways of explaining Moriarty's origins, his way of thinking, even his personal life. Some stories were really good, as good in fact as anything Doyle could have come up with, while a couple of others were a bit far off the mark. Still, definitely worth getting if you're interested in Sherlock Holmes.

[Spencer Didlake · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of unrelated stories written by various authors that reach into the depths of Sherlock Holmes only true nemesis. There are 5 or 6 stories that are beautifully written, and only 2 that I didn't like, while the rest were still enjoyable to read.

Perfect to read on a dark cold winter night by your fire.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a mixed bag - while I enjoyed some of the stories, a lot of them were just not my cup of tea. I really appreciated the diversity of voices and takes on Moriarty and his relationships with those around them, I particularly enjoyed the short stories that delved into the nexus between his work as an academic and his work as the Napoleon of Crime.

[Michael Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I likes this ebook a lot. It is an eclectic collection of short stories reflecting various aspects of Professor Moriarty's life, mostly from more favorable reviewers than Dr Watson (altho there is one story with a twist on Dr Watson!).
I had read most of the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes writing thru the British Mystery Multipack Vol 5 'The Sherlock Holmes Collection'.
Between the 2 collections, it is a pretty good resource for various aspects of the separate and joined stories concerning the 2 principal characters. I found it profoundly interesting to read such a variety of perspectives and twists.
I recommend both.

[Carlton Phelps · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

These short stories make for a fun read. It is a rollercoaster ride with each story. Interesting to the last one.
It's great fun to look at the other side's point of view. And learn a great deal about Sherlock Holmes' arch enemy.
Enjoy each story for a fun journey.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 3+ star read. I struggled with the early short stories and considered DNF’ing the volume but kept working through the stories. About half way through, the stories were much more creative and appealing to me.

[Kevin D. Lacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave up, it just didn’t grab my attention

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stories. Some not so good. A few really good.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent stories

While one or two of the stories were not well thought out the remainder were captivating and a good read.

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting range of stories. enjoyed reading the exploits of Moriarty

[LAWRENCE GILSDORF · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Mixed Assortment

Some stories are outstanding; others are just average. If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes, you will enjoy many of Professor James Moriarty's tales.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book for the fans of Sherlock Holmes!!

[E Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an alright book, but nothing special. I enjoyed a few of the stories & not the book on the whole

[Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

120.5/37 = 3.25.

Not a bad score. Some good, some less so.

[Kristel · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be honest, I didn't finish this book. It's a DNF* for me at the moment. (* = Do Not Finish)

At the moment I don't have the right mindset to read this book. All the stories in the book (37 different ones!!) are unrelated, so each story is 10-15 pages.... I hoped the stories were longer, I wanted to know more about Moriarty, but all the stories are kinda superficial; no in depth character development. I stopped reading this book after page 220 and I've only learned that Moriarty is a professor (which multiple stories tells us about) and only a few Sherlock references occured...

I didn't want to give this book 1 star, because some stories were really interesting. And I think I will read it in the future (when I hopefully have the right mindset to read it). Fun fact, when I was nine years old I DNF-fed (lol, I made a verb out of it) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I was so scared when the lady in the portrait was missing, that I didn't want to read it anymore! When I was 11 or 12, I started re-reading Azkaban and it turned out to be my favourite Harry Potter story!
So who knows, maybe this will happen to this book, The Adventures of Moriarty, too! (I hope it will!!)

[Jocelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fascinating book of stories. Ever since I watched the BBC Sherlock series, I had fallen in love with Moriarty's character. (Is that a good thing? No. Sue me.) And when I found out about the existence of this book, I had to have it. Some of the stories were good, others were alright, others were amazing. I have a ton of Post-It notes sticking out of the pages that mark my favorites. Overall a really good read!

[Russ Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moriarty, the infamous arch-nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, gets a modern treatment in 37 short stories.
Some stories are stronger than others, but on the whole, it's not a bad anthology exploring the mastermind criminal.