The Return of Sherlock Holmes

This article is about the collection of Doyle short stories. For the 1929 film adaptation The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1929 film). For the 1987 CBS film of the same name, see The Return of Sherlock Holmes (film). For the British television series that used this title from 1986-8, see Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series).

The Return of Sherlock Holmes
Cover of the first edition of The Return of Sherlock Holmes
Author(s)	Arthur Conan Doyle
Illustrator	Sidney Paget
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Sherlock Holmes
Genre(s)	Detective fiction short stories
Publisher	George Newnes
Publication date	1905
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	403 pp
ISBN	NA
Preceded by	The Hound of the Baskervilles
Followed by	The Valley of Fear

The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle.

History

The book was first published on 7 March 1905 by Georges Newnes, Ltd and in a Colonial edition by Longmans. 30,000 copies were made of the initial print run. The US edition by McClure, Phillips & Co. added another 28,000 copies to the run.

This was the first Holmes collection since 1893, when Holmes had "died" in The Adventure of the Final Problem. Having published The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1901–1902 (although setting it before Holmes' death) Doyle came under intense pressure to revive his famous character.

The first story is set in 1894 and has Holmes returning in London and explaining the period from 1891–94, a period called "The Great Hiatus" by Sherlockian enthusiasts.

Also of note is Watson's statement in the last story of the cycle that Holmes has retired, and forbids him to publish any more stories.

Contents

• "The Adventure of the Empty House" (the return of Holmes)
• "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder"
• "The Adventure of the Dancing Men"
• "The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist"
• "The Adventure of the Priory School"
• "The Adventure of Black Peter"
• "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton"
• "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons"
• "The Adventure of the Three Students"
• "The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez"
• "The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter"
• "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange"
• "The Adventure of the Second Stain"

External links

• The Return of Sherlock Holmes at Project Gutenberg