Résumé
Résumé de The Return of Sherlock Holmes
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who love puzzles with clear solutions, Victorian and Edwardian London, and short tales for a spare half hour, with Holmes’s deductions and Watson’s warm friendship.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of thirteen short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. The tales appeared in The Strand Magazine in 1903 and 1904 and were gathered into a book in 1905. Doyle had sent Holmes over a waterfall in 1893 because he wanted to write other things. Readers never stopped asking for the detective, and after ten years Doyle gave in.
The stories are told by Dr John Watson, the friend who shares rooms with Holmes in Baker Street. Each case is a small puzzle with a clear start and a clean solution, and you can read them in any order. You get a missing schoolboy, a code made of dancing figures, a blackmailer, a plaster bust and a stolen state letter. You also get a clear look at how Holmes thinks. We begin with the story that brings him back to London.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A dead man walks back into Baker StreetFree
- 2Small clues can free a man or break a code
- 3Strange errands lead to country houses
- 4Blackmail, busts and a disturbed exam paper
- 5Justice and loyalty matter more than rules
- 6Watson tells the tales and the formula holds
Point clé 1 sur 6
A dead man walks back into Baker Street
The collection opens with The Empty House. It is set in 1894, three years after Watson believed his friend had died. London is shaken by the murder of Ronald Adair, a young gentleman of good family. He was shot in a locked room of his house in Park Lane, and nobody can explain how.
Watson takes an interest in the case, since he cannot forget his lost friend. Soon afterward Watson learns that Holmes is still alive, and it is a shock to him. Doyle plays this scene for all it is worth, and Watson faints at the sight of his friend.
Holmes then explains what he has been doing during his long absence. He also explains why he stayed hidden, and he asks Watson to help him with a plan. The two of them spend a tense night in an empty house, watching their old rooms across Baker Street.
This first story sets the pattern for the whole book. It begins with a puzzle that looks impossible, and it ends with a trap laid by a man who understands his enemy better than the enemy understands him. It also tells us that the bond between the two friends is the real heart of the series.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Sherlock Holmes
- A consulting detective at Baker Street, he solves difficult cases with Watson's help through close observation and reasoning.
- Dr John Watson
- Holmes's friend and former army doctor, he shares his rooms, assists his investigations, and narrates the cases.
- Inspector Lestrade
- A Scotland Yard detective, he frequently consults Holmes while pursuing his own practical approach to police work.
- Stanley Hopkins
- A young police inspector who admires Holmes's methods, he seeks the detective's help with baffling cases.
- Hilton Cubitt
- A Norfolk landowner, he consults Holmes about mysterious drawings that have frightened his wife.
- Violet Smith
- A young music teacher, she asks Holmes to investigate a stranger who follows her bicycle journeys.
- Charles Augustus Milverton
- A ruthless blackmailer, he threatens Holmes's client with disgrace by using private letters as leverage.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 114,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 7 h 35 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 7 other languages
Questions about The Return of Sherlock Holmes
What is The Return of Sherlock Holmes about?
It is a set of thirteen short stories in which Holmes comes back to London and solves new cases with Watson. They include murders, thefts, a blackmailer, a cipher and a missing schoolboy.
Do I need to read the earlier Sherlock Holmes books first?
No. Each story stands alone, and Watson gives enough background for new readers. The first story, The Empty House, does build on an earlier tale, but you can follow it without having read that.
Why did Conan Doyle bring Sherlock Holmes back?
Doyle ended Holmes's story in 1893 to focus on other writing, but readers kept asking for more. After about ten years he agreed to return to the detective, and the new tales appeared from 1903.
What is the cipher in The Dancing Men?
It is a secret code made of small stick figures, some holding flags. Holmes solves it by studying how often each figure appears, much as a codebreaker would treat letters in a simple substitution cipher.
Is The Return of Sherlock Holmes hard to read?
Not very. The language is clear and the stories are short. The plots are easy to follow, and the puzzles are built to be understood.