The Return of Sherlock Holmes

The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of thirteen detective stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 1905. Opening with The Empty House, it reunites Holmes and Dr Watson after the detective's presumed death at the Reichenbach Falls. Cases including The Dancing Men, The Six Napoleons and The Second Stain turn coded messages, seemingly trivial objects and hidden histories into evidence. Watson's narration balances admiration for Holmes's reasoning with attention to the people affected by each mystery. The stories also distinguish legal punishment from the detective's sometimes more personal judgment of justice.