【 THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES 】

book #6 in the Sherlock Holmes series

Genre: Classic, Mystery
Audience: Adult
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Published: March 1904
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 394 (paperback)

Another great collection of short stories featuring the famous detective! I think this has been my favourite collection so far. Every single adventure in this collection was so much fun (whereas in some of the other collections there’s been the odd one that left me a little cold). And you can’t beat the euphoria of the dynamic duo finally reuniting.

Having left things on such a cliffhanger at the end of The Final Problem, and with the intermission of The Hound of the Baskervilles where we jumped back in time, we start straight away with an adventure where Holmes reveals himself as, in fact, still alive to Watson. Hooray!

There were so many good stories in this collection, so it’s really hard to pick favourites or highlights. But The Adventure of the Dancing Men, The Adventure of the Six Napoleons and The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist would be the ones I would choose.

Why? Because I loved the cyphers in the Dancing Men and the general mystery around it – with the added, and unexpected, bonus of things concluding in what you could say was an unfavourable way for Holmes. I loved the ridiculousness of the Six Napoleons and the way it all seemed like utter madness until Holmes puts us straight. That one really felt like the epitome of a Holmes deduction, where as Watson so often says, it seems so simple once all explained. And I really enjoyed the build up to the reveal of the Solitary Cyclist – and I loved the pluck of Miss Violet Smith.

Actually I can’t stop at three, because The Adventure of the Abbey Grange was so good, too. I loved the underlying heroics in this – and just generally how much of a fun head-scratcher it was.

But, no, I still can’t stop gushing there either. I also found The Adventure of the Three Students to be captivating, not sure how complex it would turn out to be – and it’s always fun to have a captivating tale that involves no murder, but merely cheating on an examination.

And The Adventure of the Priory School felt like it could’ve been a whole novel itself. It’s gritty and witty, with many unexpected things involved. The resolution involved the hoof prints was immensely fun. This would have to be a close contender for being in my top three of this collection.

The Adventure of Black Peter had a wicked murder weapon that is sure to delight, and The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez included one of the move-loved literary hiding spots. The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter was unexpectedly sad and serious, while The Adventure of the Second Stain demonstrated a wonderful amount of humanity from Holmes that felt like a real treat to see.

So yes, I really liked this collection and I highly recommend it. Much, much fun is to be had within its pages.

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Title: The Return of Sherlock Holmes
Series: Sherlock Holmes #6
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
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‘Holmes,’ I cried.’Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are alive? Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that awful abyss?’ Missing, presumed dead, for three years, Sherlock Holmes returns triumphantly to his dear companion Dr Watson. And not before time! London has never been in more need of his extraordinary a murderous individual with an air gun stalks the city. Among thirteen further brilliant tales of mystery, detection and deduction, Sherlock Holmes investigates the problem of the Norwood Builder, deciphers the message of the Dancing Men, and cracks the case of the Six Napoleons.