Moriarty — A Victorian Crime Saga

Book I revised and expanded. Book II, Moriarty: The Architect of Shadows, is complete.

Get the Book II Preview

About the Moriarty Saga

At Reichenbach, the world thought the game had ended. It had only begun.

The Moriarty Saga is a canon-faithful Victorian mystery series that enters the mind of Professor James Moriarty: mathematical prodigy, criminal architect, and the only adversary Sherlock Holmes ever called his intellectual equal.

Book I, Moriarty: The Napoleon of Crime, follows the private history of a brilliant boy’s transformation into the spider at the centre of the web. Book II, Moriarty: The Architect of Shadows, continues the saga after Reichenbach, moving deeper into the criminal architecture left behind by the Professor’s fall.

Read carefully. Because the most dangerous lies are the ones we choose to believe.

Author’s Note

Some minds bend the rules. Others rewrite them entirely.

When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created Professor Moriarty, he gave us only fragments—a shadow glimpsed at the edge of Holmes’s adventures. Yet those fragments suggested extraordinary depths: a mathematical prodigy, a Napoleon of crime, the only man whose intellect matched Holmes himself.

What might forge such a man? What journey transforms a brilliant child into the spider at the center of the web?

This volume, the first in the Victorian Moriarty Saga, explores those questions while respecting Doyle’s canon. I have treated his stories as historical fact within this fictional world, filling the spaces between established events rather than contradicting them. The result stands as a complete narrative while laying groundwork for the larger game to come.

— Aleksandr Mazo

Publication Update

Moriarty: The Napoleon of Crime, Book I of the Victorian Moriarty Saga, has been substantially revised and expanded into the definitive opening volume of the series. The earlier Amazon edition has been withdrawn while I determine the strongest publication path for the saga.

Moriarty: The Architect of Shadows, Book II, is complete. Subscribe for publication updates and an advance look at the Prologue.

About the Author

Aleksandr Mazo beside the Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty memorial plaque at Reichenbach Falls in Meiringen, Switzerland.
At the Reichenbach Falls memorial in Meiringen, Switzerland, while researching the Victorian Moriarty Saga.

Aleksandr Mazo is the author of the Victorian Moriarty Saga. He lives in New York, where he is Chief Technology Officer at the City University of New York.

Two of his pursuits found their way into the novels. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and instructor, he knows grappling as a contest of anticipation and leverage, a lesson James Moriarty learns young and carries all the way to Reichenbach. An advanced chess player, he is drawn to minds that plan several moves ahead.

While writing the saga, he followed Holmes and Watson’s route from Interlaken to Meiringen, hiked to the Reichenbach Falls, and visited the Englischer Hof and the Sherlock Holmes museums in Meiringen and London. His research on the Holmes canon and its Victorian world appears in The Moriarty Files.

🔔 Get the Book II Prologue Preview 🔎 Explore The Moriarty Files 📸 Follow on Instagram 🦋 Follow on Bluesky 📖 Follow on Facebook 🕵️ Join the Reddit Community 🐦 Follow on X (Twitter) 📬 Contact the Author
Aleksandr Mazo with the statue of Sherlock Holmes in Meiringen, Switzerland, during his research trip.
Aleksandr Mazo with the statue of Sherlock Holmes in Meiringen, Switzerland, during his research trip.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the novel canon-faithful?
Yes. Doyle’s stories are treated as “historical record” within the fiction. The journal fills gaps without contradicting established events like Reichenbach.

Do I need to be a Sherlock Holmes expert?
Not at all. If you love psychological thrillers or historical mysteries, you’ll feel right at home—Holmesians just get extra winks.

When will Book II be available?
Publication timing has not yet been announced. Subscribers will receive updates first, along with an advance look at the Prologue of Moriarty: The Architect of Shadows.

Why is Book I not currently available on Amazon?
Moriarty: The Napoleon of Crime has been substantially revised and expanded into the definitive opening volume of the saga. The earlier Amazon edition has been withdrawn while I prepare the series for its next publication stage.