Arturo Perez Reverte's Sherlock Holmes Pastiche The Final Problem Is Coming to Netflix!
Making a miniseries out of this book needed to happen. It's elementary!
In fantastic news, Arturo Perez Reverte’s wonderful Sherlock Holmes pastiche The Final Problem is becoming a miniseries!
The novel takes place in 1960 in Greece, and is about a retired actor, Ormond Basil, famous for playing Sherlock Holmes. He’s enjoying a relaxing holiday there—until a British tourist is found dead, and everyone looks to him to solve the crime. Isn’t that the most delightful premise?
Well, the writing itself is even more wonderful. And now, as I’ve said, it’s becoming a limited series, to premiere on Netflix on September 25th. I exhort you, read the novel now, before the series airs! The limited series will be four episodes. I’m so glad it’s getting this format; a movie would feel much too short.
It was adapted by Alberto Macías, Carlos Molinero, and Marisol Farré, and all four episodes were directed by Félix Viscarret. The film stars José Coronado as Basil, as well as María Valverde, Martiño Rivas, Maribel Verdú, and Gonzalo de Castro.
(FYI, there seem to be a few changes; it takes place in 1959 in Mallorca, not Greece in the 60s.)
And check out the trailer, here!
Olivia Rutigliano
Olivia Rutigliano is an Editor at Lit Hub and CrimeReads. Her other work appears in Vanity Fair, Vulture, Lapham's Quarterly, AirMail, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Public Books, The Baffler, Bright Wall/Dark Room, Politics/Letters, The Toast, Truly Adventurous, and elsewhere. She has a PhD from the departments of English/comparative literature and theatre at Columbia University, where she was the Marion E. Ponsford fellow. She hosts the podcasst "Culture Schlock" at Lit Hub Radio. She is on instagram at @oldebean, twitter at @oldrutigliano, and bluesky at @oliviarutigliano.bsky.social.
