The Return of Sherlock Holmes
Crime, Mystery
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes, Book # 5
Wisehouse Classics
1904
eBook
396
English
June 22, 2020 June 27, 2020
The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1903-1904, by Arthur Conan Doyle. The stories were published in the Strand Magazine in Great Britain, and Collier's in the United States.
The book was first published in February 1905 by McClure, Phillips & Co. (New York) then on March 7, 1905 by Georges Newnes, Ltd. (London) and was the first Holmes collection since 1893, when Holmes had "died" in "The Final Problem". Having published The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1901–1902 (setting it before Holmes' death) Doyle came under intense pressure to revive his famous character.
The first story is set in 1894 and has Holmes returning in London and explaining the period from 1891–94, a period called “The Great Hiatus” by Sherlockian enthusiasts. Also of note is Watson's statement in the last story of the cycle that Holmes has retired, and forbids him to publish any more stories.
About the book
Another collection of stories dedicated to Sherlock Holmes always narrated by the faithful Watson. For this book, too, I will not summarise all the stories and also the review is not long as I still don’t like collections of stories. But to read the whole series you have to read them right?
What I think
Anyway, maybe I’m the one who misunderstood, but I thought Moriarty was Holmes’s archenemy, but we basically only saw him once and the tale implied that the two knew each other well. Here, too, no story focused on his enemy and how Holmes “returns” is just ridiculous (although I understand that the author had to make him come back by popular demand….)
Anyway, the book is nice, sometimes I don’t share the ideas but they are in an age so different from mine that I be angry too much.
Do I recommend Sherlock Holmes’ series? Honestly, no, for now, because I think that if you love thrillers I don’t think it’s essential to read the series. Maybe I like modern thrillers and not “detectives stories” so my opinion is very influenced by this…
Now that I am filling out all the blanks in the review, I have found that this is the sixth book and not the fifth. First of all why is my edition all messed up? (I have two books which include 5 books) And then, at this point how does Holmes get back to live after the fifth book (which I haven’t read yet) if he “dies” in the fourth book? If he dies in the fourth he should come back in the fifth and not in the sixth. Okay maybe I will understand when I read the Baskervilles… or maybe the short stories are all messed up and I should follow how they were published back then and not now…
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