Return of Sherlock Holmes (Wordsworth Classics)

Sometimes, an author's fictional creation proves so popular that it cannot be escaped. Such proved to be the case for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who killed Sherlock Holmes in an earlier story, only to be pressured by fans into reviving him, first in a novel called "The Hound of the Baskervilles," which was set before the death, then finally in this subsequent collection of short stories that brings him back from the dead. If Doyle was thoroughly sick of writing Holmes stories, he disguises it well here. The overall quality may be a bit below that of previous collections (the revelation of "The Six Napoleons" is particularly easy to anticipate), but I was still immensely entertained by these tales of Victorian era detection.

A cause for great rejoicing, an event as momentous as this one. The Great Detective is back. Imagine the hype and hoopla if this was happening in the 21st century! After his presumed death at Reichenbach and the hands of the man many readers would have happily throttled, he lives! Take that, Moriarty, you dastardly cur! Again, more Sherlock is fantastic, and on to 'The Adventure of the Empty House'

Return of Sherlock Holmes : 01 The Adventure of the Empty House - Arthur Conan Doyle
Return of Sherlock Holmes : 02 The Adventure of the Norwood Builder - Arthur Conan Doyle
Return of Sherlock Holmes : 03 The Adventure of the Dancing Men - Arthur Conan Doyle
Return of Sherlock Holmes : 04 The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist - Arthur Conan Doyle
Return of Sherlock Holmes : 05 The Adventure of the Priory School - Arthur Conan Doyle
Return of Sherlock Holmes : 06 The Adventure of Black Peter - Arthur Conan Doyle
Return of Sherlock Holmes : 07 The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton - Arthur Conan Doyle
Return of Sherlock Holmes : 08 The Adventure of the Six Napoleons - Arthur Conan Doyle
Return of Sherlock Holmes : 09 The Adventure of the Three Students - Arthur Conan Doyle
Return of Sherlock Holmes : 10 The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez - Arthur Conan Doyle
Return of Sherlock Holmes : 11 The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter - Arthur Conan Doyle
Return of Sherlock Holmes : 12 The Adventure of the Abbey Grange - Arthur Conan Doyle
Return of Sherlock Holmes : 13 The Adventure of the Second Stain - Arthur Conan Doyle


Murder, Moran and Moriarty = Holmes Back In Town.

5 out of 5


Identity change means the lawyer is actually a good guy.

4 out of 5


Death threat doodle.

3.5 out of 5


Bikes, broads, bullets and a bundle of cash to be had.

5 out of 5


Duke's heir departed due to dastardly deviants.

5 out of 5


Not every day that you get murder by harpoon.

4.5 out of 5


Blackmailed babes happy Holmes on the job.

4 out of 5


Bonaparte bust bashers have a good reason.

4 out of 5


Exam nickers busted.

3.5 out of 5


Murderers should go for plain eyewear.

3.5 out of 5


Boyfriend from aussie trip preferred to husband.

3.5 out of 5


Diplomatic document disaster.

3.5 out of 5

Although he also wrote several novels featuring the world's greatest fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, it was especially in his short stories that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle perfected the Holmes formula. "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (published in 1905) is the third of the five collections of Holmes short stories. Along with the second collection ("The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes"), "Return" is generally regarded as inferior to the superlative first collection ("The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), but easily better than the last two in the series ("His Last Bow" and "The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes"). After Doyle had apparently killed Holmes in the last story of "Memoirs" (The Final Problem), the popular outcry which followed the disappearance of the legendary detective eventually led Doyle to resurrect his character in the first story of this new collection (The Empty House). But with "Return", Doyle perhaps even surpassed the earlier effort of "Memoirs", with excellent stories such as The Empty House, The Dancing Men, The Prioriy School, and the Six Napoleons, and other favorites like The Norwood Builder, Charles Augustus Milverton, The Golden Pince-Nez, and The Second Stain. In my view, fans of "Adventures" will find that the dozen stories of "Return" are a great second choice, and not much far behind the brilliance of the first collection.

Here's a list of the stories in this collection (with the better stories marked with stars):
**The Empty House, 1903 - One of the top ten stories, the presumed dead Holmes is "resurrected" to solve the murder of Ronald Adair, a card player. More interesting than this mystery, however, is the mystery of the account of Holmes own escape from death.
*The Norwood Builder, 1903 - John Hector McFarlane is arrested for allegedly murdering Jonas Oldacre, who has just included McFarlane in his will, and it is up to Holmes to prove McFarlane's innocence and expose the events as a plan by Oldacre for revenge.
**The Dancing Men, 1903 - A top ten favorite, as Sherlock Holmes needs to decode the threatening notes with mysterious symbols of dancing men received by Hilton Cubitt's wife.
The Solitary Cyclist, 1903 - The mystery surrounding Violet Smith, who is regularly pursued by a strange cyclist, perhaps one of the various lovers who is after her hand in marriage.
**The Priory School, 1904 - The only son of the Duke of Holdernesse is abducted from his private school, and Holmes uncovers what really happened to the boy, as well as the missing German schoolmaster.
Black Peter, 1904 - The seaman Captain Peter Carey, known as Black Peter, was a nasty man, but who harpooned him to the wall of his outhouse and why?
*Charles Augustus Milverton, 1904 - Charles Augustus Milverton is a reputed blackmailer who specializes in "selling" sensitive letters which reveal the dark secrets of the upper class - but he meets his match with Holmes who is enlisted by Lady Eva Blackwell shortly before her marriage to the Earl of Dovercourt.
**The Six Napoleons, 1904 - In this top ten favorite, Holmes uncovers the perplexing mystery of why various busts of Napoleon are being strangely smashed, apparently the result of a lunatic with an obsession against Napoleon, but actually linked to a jewel theft.
The Three Students, 1904 - Which of the three students was guilty of stealing a copy of the important Greek exam from Professor Hilton Soames' office?
*The Golden Pince-Nez, 1904 - A very good story, as Holmes unravels the murder of Professor Coram's secretary Willoughby Smith, and links it to Coram's Russian wife and his Russian past.
The Missing Three-Quarter, 1904 - Holmes is enlisted to solve the strange disappearance of football star Godfrey Staunton the day before a critical game.
The Abbey Grange, 1904 - Who murdered the wealthy alcoholic tyrant Sir Eustace Brackenstall? It takes Holmes to discover the involvement of a mysterious seaman.
*The Second Stain, 1904 - Two important statesmen enlist Holmes' aid to discover the whereabouts of a stolen document that could result in a war in Europe. Is it coincidental that the theft occurred around the same time as the violent death of the nobleman Eduardo Lucas? With the help of a stain beneath a carpet, Holmes puts all the pieces of the puzzle together.
- GODLY GADFLY

Some of this book was cool but there was a huge feeling of deja vu as I progressed through these stories. It's no secret that Conan Doyle brought Holmes back to life only by popular demand and not because he felt anything special for the character. As a result, these stories and mostly uninspired and are basically retreads of stories that have come before them.

Plus there are some parts that really bug me? How does Holmes make a living? Never once does he actually charge these people for his services. Where does his cash come from? And for that matter where does Watson get his money from? He says at the start he sold his practice to shack up with Holmes so if he is not a GP then what is he? A mere observer to the Mysteries? And what of his wife Mary Morstan? Does he not live with her any more? According to this he lives with Holmes? What is going on?

If Conan Doyle were really serious about these stories then elements such as these would have been stronger and characters would be more fleshed out. The introduction of a new character in Inspector Stanley Hopkins is practically useless as he is just a generic police officer.

The long and unrealistic monologues aren't so abundant here but the stories always seem to get off to a slow start. A couple of them are cool and interesting but never seem to generate an atmosphere or give any chance for Holmes or Watson to evolve.

Conan Doyle only wrote these stories because his readers wanted them. Not because he felt they needed to be told. He felt totally indifferent about Sherlock Holmes and these generally poor stories only prove that.

The soft-cover Wordsworth Classics edition of The Return of Sherlock Holmes reproduces The Hound of the Baskervilles and the short stories that make up The Return of Sherlock Holmes as they originally appeared in the Strand. It also contains the interesting, though poorly reproduced, illustrations that accompanied the stories. Because a page of the magazine is reduced to the size of a trade paperback page, typeface is very small.