The Return of Sherlock Holmes
written by Arthur Conan Doyle
474 pages // published in 1905 // Victorian crime
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle. This was the first Holmes collection since 1893, when Holmes had "died" in 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.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle. This was the first Holmes collection since 1893, when Holmes had "died" in 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.
Sherlock Holmes is back in London after his assumed death back at Reichenbach Falls. It's not long though, and someone is trying to put him six feet under once and for all ('The Adventure of the Empty House')...
Now, I was extremely impressed with the story 'The Adventure of the Norwood Builder', in which forensic fingerprinting is put to the test. Pretty intriguing, and this is where Conan Doyle is really strutting his scientific mind.
'The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton' is another that stands out to me... because Sherlock Holmes gets engaged! Oh, what a funny idea! This relationship only comes about due to Holmes' need to milk out information, and of course (to relieve your mind), there is no marriage. Whew! Crisis averted.
And one other story worth mentioning is 'The Adventure of the Second Stain'. I liked it because Holmes shows grace and kindness. Usually he comes off as seemingly callous. He has so logical a mind, it's sometimes hard for him to let soft emotions come through. But he pulls it off in this story.
So, those are some of my favorite moments of The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Most of the stories, it seems, I could breeze through in about 15 minutes or so. Each provided a pleasant mystery to puzzle out.
In the last story, I was very amused that Watson states that Holmes has forbidden him to keep publishing any of the stories – and yet, we know this promise is not forever kept.
This is book #12 for me in the Back to the Classics 2017 challenge.
[CATEGORY: Set in a Place I'd Like to Visit: LONDON]
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