12 h 41 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 12 h 41 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 311 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 311 pagesAbout this book
A dead friend returns to Baker Street, and London's strangest puzzles are waiting.
Dr John Watson believes Sherlock Holmes is dead. Then his friend returns to London, ready to work again. In Arthur Conan Doyle's The Return of Sherlock Holmes, thirteen short stories bring the pair together against murder, blackmail and deception, with Watson asking the questions you want answered.
The Empty House opens the collection. The Norwood Builder brings a frightened young lawyer to Baker Street, while The Solitary Cyclist follows Violet Smith along a lonely country road. In The Six Napoleons, a plaster bust becomes part of the puzzle. Small clues carry weight, and reputations and lives hang on their meaning.
What you’ll discover
- A return to Baker Street Share Watson's surprise as Holmes returns after the long absence that leaves his friend grieving.
- Clues worth looking at twice Follow Holmes's observation and reasoning as strange details become the keys to clear solutions.
- Secrets with a cost Meet Charles Augustus Milverton, whose trade in private letters turns fear of disgrace into money.
- Watson at your side See each case through a loyal friend who asks what Holmes already seems to know.
- A puzzle for each sitting Choose a tale in any order and enjoy a mystery with a clear start and solution.
Who will love it
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.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A dead man walks back into Baker Street
- Small clues can free a man or break a code
- Strange errands lead to country houses
- Blackmail, busts and a disturbed exam paper
- Justice and loyalty matter more than rules
- Watson tells the tales and the formula holds
Who’s who
- Sherlock HolmesA consulting detective in Baker Street who solves crimes by observation and reasoning, and who has returned to London after a long absence.
- Dr John WatsonHolmes's friend and former army doctor, who shares his rooms, helps on cases and tells the stories.
- Stanley HopkinsA young police inspector who studies Holmes's methods and calls him in when a case baffles him.
- Hilton CubittA Norfolk landowner who turns to Holmes because mysterious stick figure drawings are frightening his wife.
- Violet SmithA young music teacher who seeks Holmes's help when a stranger on a bicycle follows her along a country road.
- Charles Augustus MilvertonA blackmailer who buys private letters and uses them to squeeze money from people who fear disgrace.
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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The Return of Sherlock Holmes in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle · 1905
A code of dancing figures and a stolen state letter bring Holmes back to cases where one small clue changes everything.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
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.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
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.
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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.
The author
Arthur Conan Doyle
1859–1930 · British detective novelist
Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician born in Edinburgh in 1859. He practised medicine in England and wrote novels, short stories and histories. His Sherlock Holmes stories began with A Study in Scarlet in 1887. He also wrote The Lost World in 1912. He died in Crowborough, England, in 1930.
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