The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep

by H.G. Parry

I do warn you, it’s turning into a paper on how Conan Doyle doesn’t really have a criminal underworld—at least, not one that reflects Victorian social unease in the manner of Dickens et al. Sherlock Holmes stories glorify human intellect; his criminals are intellectual puzzles to be solved, not living breathing inhabitants of a world in their own right. The most dangerous criminals—Moriarty included—are scholars and university professors, because the threat they present is intellectual—it’s not meant to reflect real social issues, and it doesn’t really do it by accident either. Unless Sir Arthur was trying to warn the public that all academics are inherently untrustworthy. Which is fair.