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Resurrection reveals that the deadliest threats lurk in plain sight.

Three years after his presumed death at Reichenbach Falls, Sherlock Holmes reappears in London disguised as an elderly book collector. The murder of Ronald Adair in a locked Park Lane room provides the impetus for his return. By placing a wax bust in his Baker Street window, Holmes lures Colonel Sebastian Moran into firing his air-gun from an empty house across the street. Moran's arrest exposes Moriarty’s remaining syndicate and restores Holmes to active practice.

I.—The Adventure of the Empty House.

Fabricated evidence crumbles when human nature exposes the architect's grudge.

Young solicitor John Hector McFarlane finds himself framed for the murder of Jonas Oldacre after Oldacre names him sole heir and then vanishes. Inspector Lestrade seizes upon a bloody thumbprint on the wall as absolute proof of guilt. Holmes suspects foul play when he notices structural anomalies in Deep Dene House and staged evidence. By raising a false alarm of fire in the hallway, Holmes flushes Oldacre out of a hidden wall compartment, exposing a bitter revenge scheme.

II.—The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.

Simple substitution ciphers expose dark shadows from an untamed past.

Hilton Cubitt seeks help when mysterious stick-figure drawings terrify his American wife Elsie at their Norfolk manor. Holmes analyzes the repeating symbols as a monoalphabetic substitution cipher, deciphering threats from Chicago crook Abe Slaney. Despite cracking the code, Holmes arrives too late to prevent a midnight shootout that leaves Cubitt dead and Elsie wounded. Using Slaney's own secret cipher against him, Holmes sends a coded summons that lures the killer straight into a police trap.

III.—The Adventure of the Dancing Men.

Unseen guardians and hidden conspirators track the isolated traveler's path.

Music teacher Violet Smith reports a mysterious cyclist who secretly follows her along an isolated Surrey country road every weekend. Holmes investigates the surrounding woods and uncovers a plot involving two fortune hunters, Bob Carruthers and Jack Woodley, targeting her late uncle's South African inheritance. Carruthers had fallen in love with Violet and trailed her to shield her from his ruthless partner. When Woodley attempts a forced marriage in the forest, Holmes intervenes to break up the criminal syndicate.

IV.—The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist.

Arrogance and hidden lineage fracture the nobility's gilded exterior.

Dr. Thorneycroft Huxtable arrives exhausted at Baker Street to report the abduction of Lord Saltire, the ten-year-old son of the Duke of Holdernesse. Holmes and Watson examine the northern moors, tracking bicycle tracks and discovering the murdered body of a German master. The investigation leads to a local inn where horses are shod with cloven-iron shoes to fake cow tracks. Holmes reveals that the Duke's illegitimate son James Wilder engineered the kidnapping out of jealousy and greed.

V.—The Adventure of the Priory School.

Brutal violence leaves traces that physical strength alone cannot conceal.

Retired whaling captain Peter Carey is found impaled against his cabin wall by a harpoon in Sussex. Inspector Stanley Hopkins seeks assistance, prompting Holmes to test whether a human can drive a harpoon through a pig carcass with a single thrust. A tobacco pouch and a forgotten notebook containing stock initials point toward maritime origins. Holmes advertises for an Arctic harpooner at high wages, trapping Patrick Cairns, who killed Carey during a struggle over stolen securities.

VI.—The Adventure of Black Peter.

Desperation drives the vulnerable to destroy the corrupt and concealed.

Charles Augustus Milverton ruthlessly blackmails London's high society using compromised personal correspondence. Holmes and Watson burgle Milverton’s manor to destroy his files, witnessing a vengeful noblewoman execute the extortionist in secret. Meanwhile, a serial burglar smashes plaster busts of Napoleon across London to locate the stolen Black Pearl of the Borgias hidden inside one during its manufacture. Holmes tracks the final bust to Chiswick, purchasing it and smashing it open to recover the missing jewel.

VII.—The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.

Physical evidence exposes academic dishonesty before ambition turns to ruin.

University tutor Hilton Soames discovers that someone has secretly copied locked examination proofs in his office. Suspicion falls upon three students residing in the building: an athletic scholar, an Indian student, and an uncooperative youth. Holmes inspects the room, analyzing pencil shavings, specks of clay, and window height relative to the intruder. He proves that Gilchrist used his athletic jumping skills to spot the papers from outside, leading to a private confession and voluntary withdrawal from college.

IX.—The Adventure of the Three Students.

Obscured vision hides a fugitive behind the walls of deception.

Young secretary Willoughby Smith is murdered in Professor Coram's study with an ivory-handled sealing-wax knife. The victim leaves behind a gold pince-nez, from which Holmes deduces the killer’s eyesight, physical traits, and gait. By heavily smoking cigarettes in the study, Holmes leaves an even layer of ash on the floor, detecting footmarks that lead into the Professor's private room. He discovers Anna, the Professor's estranged Russian wife, hiding in a secret cabinet after losing her glasses.

X.—The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez.

Secret devotion outweighs public duty when tragedy strikes in silence.

Cambridge rugby captain Cyril Overton seeks Holmes's help when key player Godfrey Staunton disappears right before a vital match against Oxford. Staunton fled his hotel after receiving a frantic message, leaving no trace behind. Holmes uses a draghound named Pompey to follow the scent of aniseed on a doctor's carriage wheels through rural roads. The search ends at a lonely cottage, revealing that Staunton was secretly nursing his dying wife away from his miserly uncle's sight.

XI.—The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter.

Justice transcends official enforcement when chivalry protects the innocent.

Sir Eustace Brackenstall is beaten to death with a poker at his Kent estate, and his Australian wife claims a known gang of burglars bound her. Holmes inspects the dining room and notices three wine glasses, discovering that two were filled from the same bottle to fake a trio of criminals. He identifies Captain Jack Crocker, a merchant sailor who loved Lady Brackenstall and killed her abusive husband in self-defense. Deciding that law would fail true justice, Holmes frees Crocker.

XII.—The Adventure of the Abbey Grange.

Unseen motives threaten empires until courage returns the stolen secret.

Prime Minister Lord Bellinger and European Secretary Trelawney Hope report the theft of a state letter capable of triggering a continent-wide war. Suspicion shifts when international spy Eduardo Lucas is murdered in his London home days later. Holmes notices an offset between a bloodstain on a carpet and the floor beneath, proving the floorboards were raised to retrieve the hidden letter. Holmes confronts Lady Hilda Trelawney, who handed over the letter under blackmail, and discreetly replaces it.

XIII.—The Adventure of the Second Stain.

Book

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

Master deduction, solve mysterious crimes, and follow Sherlock Holmes through thirteen classic cases of deception and intrigue.

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