The Return of Sherlock Holmes

About the book

Watson's account begins with an extraordinary renewal of his association with Sherlock Holmes and continues through a series of investigations at home and beyond London. The cases range across coded messages, threatened reputations, missing people, and objects whose apparent insignificance makes them easy to overlook. Doyle varies the balance between physical danger and close reasoning, giving Holmes opportunities to act as well as explain. Watson remains the companion through whom the reader experiences the surprise of a detail suddenly becoming decisive. Some stories also bring the detective's personal sense of justice into contact with the limits of official procedure. The collection offers the comfort of a familiar partnership while repeatedly unsettling the ordinary appearances that clients and witnesses have taken for granted.

• Hidden meanings
• Justice
• Friendship

Why read it

For inventive cases that renew the pleasures of Holmes's methods and his partnership with Watson.

Short-story collection · English text