The Adventure of the Empty House: A Sherlock Holmes Short Story

Dr. Watson faints for the first and last time in his life when the believed-to-be-dead Sherlock Holmes reappears three years after his apparent death.

Readers will recall 'The Final Problem,' which is the last short story in 'The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. ' And the fatal incident at Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. Watson was there. So imagine his surprise when an old man he bumped into on the street, a collector of books, turned out to be his old friend.

Watson had taken an interest in the strange case of a young aristocrat found shot to death in a locked room on Park Lane. But the criminal investigation, although of huge interest to the public, was not progressing. Then Holmes returned.