<p>The London mists dissipate one morning on the shadowy streets of Limehouse to reveal that Professor James Moriarty, archrival of Sherlock Holmes, has returned. Their dramatic encounter at Reichenbach Falls three years earlier, it seems, was not the fateful confrontation the world had been led to believe—and now, with his nefarious energies undiminished, Moriarty is back in England to resume his control over the criminal netherworld.</p><p>But what really did happen in Switzerland in 1891 between the Professor and the Great Detective? Why is the scrupulous Holmes, now back at 221B Baker Street, being curiously uncooperative with Scotland Yard? And what is behind Moriarty’s plan to meet with the major crime organizations from America and the Continent? In this atmospheric tale of the Victorian underworld, John Gardner delivers the dramatic first novel in his bestselling saga that confirms Professor James Moriarty as one of the most vividly imagined villains in literature.</p>