The Adventure of the Empty House

The Adventure of the Empty House is a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle. This was originally published in The Strand Magazine (September 1903), and later it was included as the first short story of the collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1903-1904). It should be noted that after the death of the beloved detective (The Final Problem, 1893) and receiving countless letters of complaint from readers, in ten years, Arthur Conan Doyle decided to “revive” Sherlock Holmes. Therefore, The Adventure of the Empty House marks the sensational return of Sherlock Holmes, who explains to Dr. Watson that he didn´t fall into the abyss, rather the professor James Moriarty, who tried to assassinate him, slipped, then the detective climbed up where he couldn´t go, almost died from an attack by Sebastian Moran, fled to Florence, worked three years undercover as the enigmatic Norwegian detective Sigerson and couldn´t return to London because his life was in danger. However, The Adventure of the Empty House leaves a hidden period between the fake death of Sherlock Holmes (May 1891) and his spectacular return (April 1894), and even has certain drawbacks: 1. It is inconceivable that James Moriarty and Sebastian Moran gave the detective time to write his farewell letter to Dr. Watson. 2. The version of Sherlock Holmes in his fight against the professor James Moriarty is questionable. 3. If there were only at least two or three dangerous criminals left in London, then why did Sherlock Holmes hide during three years? 4. It is highly unlikely that colonel Sebastian Moran was broke and engaged in assassinating Ronald Adair only for gambling affairs. The story of The Adventure of the Empty House is presented in this document, in which Sherlock Holmes returns and captures Sebastian Moran, and the explanations about the aforementioned failures, reflected in this tale, are also exposed in the novel: The Big Secret of Sherlock Holmes and His Struggle Against the Organization.