Just Finished Reading: The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (FP: 1905) [303pp] 

Containing 13 short stories – we're back in that format again after the last full novel – this is the start of a new phase in Sherlock Holmes’ adventures after his supposed death at the hands of Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls. Opening with ‘The Empty House’ we discover what exactly happened (or didn’t happen!) on that fateful day and where exactly Holmes has been in the last THREE years. I couldn’t help but think that both the explanation of Sherlock’s non-death and the reasoning behind his continued absence where a bit... ‘thin’. Although I can understand why he (and ACD) needed to explain himself. But actually, the thing that *really* jumped out at me in this story – apart from the interesting murder weapon – was Holmes’ almost off-hand comment about Watson’s bereavement! Erm.... Presumably his wife died (there was no mention of exactly who had died) at some point whilst Holmes was away. If so, when, why, caused by what? Interested fans NEED to know this stuff. Oh, and one final thing, both this story and one other mentioned ‘South Africa Gold shares’. Presumably such a thing was BIG news at the time of writing? 

I remembered ‘The Dancing Men’ surprisingly well after a 40+ year absence, probably because I’ve had a passing interest in codes and other puzzles since I was a child. ‘The Solitary Cyclist’ had its moments and presumably drew upon the cycling ‘craze’ of the early 20th century when bicycles became ubiquitous on country roads. It did feel very familiar though – as did a few stories – and seemed to be little more than a variation on a well-trodden theme. ‘The Priory School’ was somewhat better (although it did have a few echoes of Hound of the Baskervilles, minus the dog) including yet another passing mention of gypsies! ‘The Three Students’ was an interesting puzzle and contained, I think, the only new piece of ‘personal’ information about Holmes himself – the fact that he was 6ft tall. 

One thing that struck me repeatedly throughout these stories was the difficulty of travel – especially anywhere outside of London. Even within the city itself it too HOURS to get from one area to another (usually by cab). Maybe this was compensated for by the regularity of postal services and the speedy delivery of telegrams! Transport outside London – even using trains going to places that would never be served today – took half a day or more. One character only went ‘home’ at weekends – and her family lived only THREE miles away, but thought the hassle of travelling that far just wasn’t worth it. Amazing! 

I found ‘The Golden Pince-Nez' interesting for its background story of Russian clampdown on dissent – which seemed to make it into several novels of the period including children’s tales. ‘The Abbey Grange’ amused me by being based in Chislehurst in Kent – which they took an age getting to by train – as I used to live there (briefly) before moving one stop further down the line in Orpington where I lived for 6 years whilst working in London. Interestingly, Holmes was MUCH more interested in ‘doing the right thing’ rather than simply catching criminals. Justice, according to Holmes, was a much higher ideal than simple Law and he was willing to put himself at some risk in its name. I did feel, from story to story, that Holmes was more than a little arrogant in granting himself the authority to make those decisions – even if, by and large, I agreed with them. 

The final story, ‘The Second Stain’ was apparently an addition story which took place after Holmes had retired from his role as ‘consulting detective’ and his new life as a quite keeper of bees because the case involved matters of State and the possibility of a European war (interesting in itself!) because of the loss of an important document. This couldn’t but remind me of ‘The Naval Treaty’ storyline in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes where the handling of classified documents defied all rationality. Here, in ‘Stain’, a Cabinet MINISTER took home a highly sensitive document because he thought it would be more secure in a lockable BOX on a table in his bedroom that in the SAFE in his office at, presumably, The Foreign & Commonwealth Office in Whitehall. I’m guessing that government security measure back then was somewhat lacking – AKA non-existent – but please..... Then again, taking home classified documents probably isn’t as rare as we would hope it is. 

Overall, I was a little disappointed with this collection as they generally seemed ‘forced’ rather than a labour of love. I can understand that if ACD was essentially writing them ‘under duress’ from his fan base and I hope things do manage to get back in the flow by his next outing. I am, as always, looking forward to it. Just two more original works to go – then onto Sherlock’s contemporaries and the Holmesian Expanded Universe.   

Oh, I ALMOST forgot (actually I DID forget but then...), My Wordsworth Classic edition had the original drawings from the stories by Sidney Paget which was a REAL treat. If you can get this edition it's worth the effort.