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.