Reviews with content warning for Death - The Return of Sherlock Holmes

As I've been reading through the Sherlock Holmes stories, I've had a vague question in my mind of whether I'd recognise the place where I left off last time I read through them. That questions remains unanswered for now, because I'd definitely read The Return of Sherlock Holmes before: not only do I remember The Adventure of the Empty House, but I also recalled The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist. (Side note that Arthur Conan Doyle got a bit lazy with the titles in this one, they're all 'The Adventure of ---'.)

The Adventure of the Empty House is definitely the most memorable story, as this is the one in which Sherlock Holmes makes his titular return from the (apparent) dead. It must have made an even bigger impact at the time, when readers discovered it wasn't just filling in a blank in the timeline but was actually reuniting Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.

The rest of the stories aren't terribly remarkable. They're solid and enjoyable enough, but they aren't doing anything special, and in a few places they seem inconsistent. Dr Watson draws the reader's attention to how unusual it is, in The Adventure of the Priory School, for Sherlock Holmes to care about money, but this sudden change in personality is never explained. Perhaps the reader is supposed to assume that Sherlock Holmes is happy to demand money from a character who is both unpleasant and rich enough to barely notice, but it would have been nice if there'd been any indication that he was going to do something with the money besides bank it.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes does introduce Inspector Stanley Hopkins, who gets three adventures within this collection, which I think makes him the second-most prominent police character in the canon. It's quite fun to see him develop through the stories, from Sherlock Holmes having high hopes of him to being disappointed that he turns out just like any other police officer.

As ever, it's fun to spot references which find their way into adaptations, but other than the titular return, this collection didn't offer much else that will be memorable.

Content Warnings