The Adventure of the Empty House

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

In “The Adventure of the Empty House”, Sherlock Holmes reappears in London after a 3-year absence, shocking Dr. Watson who believed his good friend had been killed in a confrontation with Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. Holmes is compelled to outwit the “second most dangerous man in London” who has a good reason to hope for Holmes’ demise. From the 1905 collection “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media
• Release date: Dec 5, 2017
• ISBN: 9781974994083

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. He is the creator of the Sherlock Holmes character, writing his debut appearance in A Study in Scarlet. Doyle wrote notable books in the fantasy and science fiction genres, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels.

Book preview

cover.jpg

THE ADVENTURE OF THE

EMPTY HOUSE

By

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

This edition published by Dreamscape Media LLC, 2017

www.dreamscapeab.com * [e-mail]

1417 Timberwolf Drive, Holland, OH 43528

877.983.7326

dreamscape

About Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer best known for his detective fiction featuring the character Sherlock Holmes. Originally a physician, in 1887 he published A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels about Holmes and Dr. Watson. In addition, Doyle wrote over fifty short stories featuring the famous detective.

The Sherlock Holmes stories are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. Doyle is also known for writing the fictional adventures of Professor Challenger and for propagating the mystery of the Mary Celeste. He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.

Source: Wikipedia

The Adventure of the

Empty House

It was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London was interested, and the fashionable world dismayed, by the murder of the Honourable Ronald Adair under most unusual and inexplicable circumstances. The public has already learned those particulars of the crime which came out in the police investigation, but a good deal was suppressed upon that occasion, since the case for the prosecution was so overwhelmingly strong that it was not necessary to bring forward all the facts. Only now, at the end of nearly ten years, am I allowed to supply those missing links which make up the whole of that remarkable chain. The crime was of interest in itself, but that interest was as nothing to me compared to the inconceivable sequel, which afforded me the greatest shock and surprise of any event in my adventurous life. Even now, after this long interval, I find myself thrilling as I think of it, and feeling once more that sudden flood of joy, amazement, and incredulity which utterly submerged my mind. Let me say to that public, which has shown some interest in those glimpses which I have occasionally given them of the thoughts and actions of a very remarkable man, that they are not to blame me if I have not shared my knowledge with them, for I should have considered it my first duty to do so, had I not been barred by a positive prohibition from his own lips, which was only withdrawn upon the third of last month.

It can be imagined that my close intimacy with Sherlock Holmes had interested me deeply in crime, and that after his disappearance I never failed to

Reviews for The Adventure of the Empty House

[lgandt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gotta give this one to the novel, even though Granada showed more emotion

[john257hopper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the return story, where Sherlock Holmes comes back to life from his supposed plunge into the abyss of Reichenbach Falls at the hands of Moriarty after three years and causes Watson to faint for the only time in his life. The details of Holmes's return are of course the major point of interest here; the actual plot of the capture of Moriarty's lieutenant Colonel Sebastian Moran is fairly pedestrian by comparison and it seems implausible such a cunning man would be fooled by the wax dummy against the lighted window routine. It does set things up well for the resumption of Holmes and Watson's adventures together, along with the rather shockingly casual mention and immediate dismissal of the death of Watson's young wife Mary Morstan.

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the three years since Sherlock Holmes’s death, Dr. Watson has attempted to use his friend’s methods to solve crimes, but without Sherlock’s success. When Watson goes to Park Lane to look into a man’s mysterious death, he bumps into an old man carrying books. Watson is overcome when the man later reveals himself to be his old friend, Sherlock Holmes. After explaining to Watson how he had survived at Reichenbach Falls, Holmes enlists Watson’s aid in setting a trap for a would-be assassin.The crime at the beginning of this story is secondary to Holmes’s return, which is the real purpose of the story. It’s hard to imagine the impact on Holmes’s fans upon this story’s publication. Today’s readers know that Sherlock Holmes returned after his confrontation with Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. Contemporary readers only hoped for Holmes’s return.