Book #18: The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Number of pages: 193
Yet another collection of short stories about Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Doctor John Watson. While the background to this book is quite well-known, I will put it behind a spoiler cut just in case.
[Recap for the Sherlock Holmes series]
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle famously "killed" off Sherlock in "The Final Problem", although it seemed deliberately ambiguous; the story introduced Holmes' arch-enemy, Professor Moriarty, and ended with him having apparently plunged to his death off the Reichenbach Falls.
This story led to a huge public outcry and eventually, Conan Doyle decided to revive his most famous character, so the first story in this book, "The Empty House" starts off with Watson meeting Holmes again (he is disguised as an old man), and the truth behind his apparent demise is revealed, before a whole new adventure starts for the characters.
Overall, I found this to be another well-written set of stories. Watson notes at one point that Holmes solved many cases, but that he chooses to narrate stories that "derive their interest not so much from the brutality of the crime as from the ingenuity and dramatic quality of the solution". Certainly, many of the six stories in the book are ones where you won't see the final answer coming, with a number of ingenious plot twists (especially in the second story, "The Norwood Builder"), and the whole thing is narrated as usual by Watson.
Based on this, it is easy to see why the character of Holmes was so endeared to by readers, and why the stories remain popular today.
Next book: The Rosie Project (Graeme Simsion)