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Really enjoyed your comparison of the play and the story. If the one-act Sherlock really dates from 1912, Moran was still Doyle's villain of choice two decades after Reichenbach. I wonder whether he became Sylvius partly because readers had last seen Moran taken into custody in The Empty House.

Glad you enjoyed it. Suspect that Sylvius is substituted for Moran because ACD seems to be (surprisingly) concerned about series continuity at this point. Hadn’t bothered him all that much before but by 1920 maybe he had a more acute sense of the world he had created.

That fits The Illustrious Client, published a few years later but set in 1902, where Holmes speaks of “the living Colonel Sebastian Moran”. ACD keeps him alive but offstage. Thanks for the reply, and for a great episode.

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