
The Final Problem
The quarter-of-a-million-copy bestselling murder mystery inspired by Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie
Arturo Perez-Reverte(Author)
Atlantic Books (Publisher)
Published on 12. February 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-1-80546-617-8 (ISBN)
Description
For fans of Anthony Horowitz and Benjamin Stevenson, as well as classic tales by Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, a charming murder mystery from the internationally bestselling author
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'The perfect murder mystery' JANICE HALLETT, author of The Appeal
'A true delight right up to its clever final reveal' PETER SWANSON, author of Kill Your Darlings
'One of the best crime novels I've read in years!' KELLY MULLEN, author of This is Not a Game
_______________
To catch a killer, one must act the part.
Arriving on the Greek island of Utakos, ageing actor Ormond Basil hopes only for a holiday and perhaps finally to shed the mantle of his most famous role: world-renowned sleuth, Sherlock Holmes.
But when a body turns up in his hotel, the other guests, accustomed to seeing Ormond as the greatest detective of all time on the silver screen, pressure him to solve the mystery.
Yet even with Ormond's encyclopaedic knowledge of plots and killers, this case turns out to be anything but elementary...
___________________
Praise for Arturo Perez-Reverte
'Gives murder a touch of class' Observer
'Spain's most popular, inventive writer of historical fiction' The Sunday Times
'A sophisticated and exciting intellectual game' Daily Telegraph
'To read him is to rediscover the delights of Dumas and Conan Doyle' The Times
'It's rare a novelist who can create a literary page turner. Perez-Reverte is one of those rarities' Denver Post
_______________
'The perfect murder mystery' JANICE HALLETT, author of The Appeal
'A true delight right up to its clever final reveal' PETER SWANSON, author of Kill Your Darlings
'One of the best crime novels I've read in years!' KELLY MULLEN, author of This is Not a Game
_______________
To catch a killer, one must act the part.
Arriving on the Greek island of Utakos, ageing actor Ormond Basil hopes only for a holiday and perhaps finally to shed the mantle of his most famous role: world-renowned sleuth, Sherlock Holmes.
But when a body turns up in his hotel, the other guests, accustomed to seeing Ormond as the greatest detective of all time on the silver screen, pressure him to solve the mystery.
Yet even with Ormond's encyclopaedic knowledge of plots and killers, this case turns out to be anything but elementary...
___________________
Praise for Arturo Perez-Reverte
'Gives murder a touch of class' Observer
'Spain's most popular, inventive writer of historical fiction' The Sunday Times
'A sophisticated and exciting intellectual game' Daily Telegraph
'To read him is to rediscover the delights of Dumas and Conan Doyle' The Times
'It's rare a novelist who can create a literary page turner. Perez-Reverte is one of those rarities' Denver Post
Reviews / Votes
The perfect murder mystery to transport you to another time: 1960, another place: an idyllic Greek Island, and a brand new amateur sleuth in Ormond Basil, a 'resting' actor who once played Sherlock Holmes on screen, a role that means everyone expects him to solve a baffling murder... This is a fresh new classic that fans of the genre will LOVE. Like taking a warm bath in the best of the Golden Age! -- Janice Hallett, author of THE APPEAL The Final Problem is a brilliantly devised meta-mystery, a concoction of old Hollywood glamour with a high-body-count murder mystery. A true delight right up to its clever final reveal -- Peter Swanson, author of KILL YOUR DARLINGS One of the best crime novels I've read in years. An elegant and engrossing puzzle. Murder mystery bliss! -- Kelly Mullen, author of THIS IS NOT A GAME A true feast for anyone who has ever enjoyed reading a detective novel * La Vanguardia * A canonical suspense novel, one that demands to be read without pause, becomes a tribute to fiction, a profoundly Cervantine book that places us at the crossroads where reality and invention intersect * El Espagnol *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 212 mm
Width: 134 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
339 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80546-617-8 (9781805466178)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Arturo Perez-Reverte
The Final Problem
The quarter-of-a-million-copy bestselling murder mystery inspired by Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie
E-Book
02/2026
Atlantic Books
€9.99
Available for download
Person
Arturo Perez-Reverte was born in Cartagena in 1951. Since the publication of The Fencing Master, his first novel, Perez-Reverte has become one of Europe's bestselling authors. His books have been published in fifty countries and have sold over 27 million copies worldwide. His novel The Dumas Club was adapted into a film (The Ninth Gate) and The Siege received the 2014 CWA International Dagger.