The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes recap

Watson's second collection ranges across independent cases and also looks backward into Holmes's early life, including his first substantial investigation and an old family ritual he examined before becoming a professional detective. Other stories bring problems from racing, medicine, business, the military, and domestic life, while "The Greek Interpreter" introduces Holmes's older brother Mycroft. The volume ends with the full-spoiler events of "The Final Problem." Holmes identifies Professor Moriarty as the organizer of a large criminal network and becomes the target of Moriarty's retaliation after arranging a police assault on it. Holmes and Watson travel to Switzerland, where Watson is lured away by a false summons. At the Reichenbach Falls, Holmes and Moriarty apparently struggle and fall to their deaths. Watson finds Holmes's farewell note and ends the collection believing his friend dead, although later stories reveal that Holmes survived the encounter.

Collection scope: the usual eleven-story volume contains "Silver Blaze," "The Yellow Face," "The Stockbroker's Clerk," "The Gloria Scott," "The Musgrave Ritual," "The Reigate Squire" (also titled "The Reigate Squires"), "The Crooked Man," "The Resident Patient," "The Greek Interpreter," "The Naval Treaty," and "The Final Problem." "The Cardboard Box" is included in some editions of the Memoirs and placed with His Last Bow in others. The stories are separate investigations; only the closing story supplies the collection's concluding career event.

In "The Final Problem," Holmes tells Watson that Professor Moriarty directs a far-reaching criminal organization and that Holmes's work has brought it close to destruction. Moriarty threatens him, and Holmes leaves England with Watson while the police move against the organization. At a hotel in Switzerland, a false message draws Watson away to attend an Englishwoman said to be ill. He returns to the Reichenbach Falls and finds signs that Holmes and Moriarty reached the path together but did not return. Holmes has left a note explaining that he anticipated Moriarty's pursuit and accepted the confrontation. Watson concludes that both men fell to their deaths and closes the volume with a memorial to his friend. Later Holmes stories disclose that Holmes survived, but the ending of this collection presents his disappearance as a death and leaves Watson bereaved.