This is the case, set in 1891, that introduces Holmes’s greatest opponent, the criminal mastermind, Professor Moriarty.
Holmes arrives at Doctor Watson’s one evening in a somewhat agitated state and with barked knuckles. He has apparently escaped three murder attempts that day after a visit from Professor Moriarty, who warned him to withdraw from his pursuit of justice against him to avoid any regrettable outcome. The Advenutre of the Final Problem was published in Strand Magazine in December 1893 and was co-ranked by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as fourth on his personal list of best Sherlock Holmes stories.
