The return of Sherlock Holmes, 10 years after his “ death” at the hands of Professor Moriarty, was one of the most hotly anticipated events of the new century in 1903. Arthur Conan Doyle had teased his loyal fans with his 1902 novel The Hound of the Baskervilles, a story that took place two years before Holmes plummeted into the Reichenbach Falls. With “ The Empty House,” the first story in this collection, Dr. Watson and the world finally learned how Holmes cheated the Grim Reaper and feigned mortality for three years— as he tidies up one last loose end in his battle against Moriarty' s criminal apparatus.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes finds Arthur Conan Doyle at the height of his creative powers, producing 13 of his finest mysteries for the inimitable Holmes to solve. No Sherlock Holmes collection would be complete without it.