The Return of Sherlock Holmes

Eight years after sending Sherlock Holmes over the Reichenbach Falls, public demand forced Conan Doyle to do the impossible, and 'The Empty House' brings Holmes back to London in a resurrection scene that still lands, complete with a disguised bookseller, a fainting Watson, and an ambush laid for the last of Moriarty's lieutenants. What follows is one of the strongest runs of stories in the whole canon: the dancing-men cipher that terrorizes a Norfolk household, the six smashed busts of Napoleon, a blackmailer so vile even Holmes steps outside the law to beat him, and 'The Second Stain,' where a state secret vanishes from a locked dispatch box and a war hangs on its recovery.

Thirteen cases, each a self-contained puzzle wrapped in gaslight and hansom cabs. Conan Doyle wrote these to be devoured in a single sitting of a magazine, which makes them perfect audio: one commute, one mystery, solved.

At roughly 119,900 words, The Return of Sherlock Holmes runs about 13½ hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes is in the public domain, so the complete text is free on Project Gutenberg and LoudReader has the entire Project Gutenberg catalog built in. To listen:

1. Download LoudReader for Mac or iPhone (free, no account).
2. Search for “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” in the built-in catalog and add it to your library.
3. Press play. A natural offline voice reads the book while each word highlights on screen, and your place is saved between sessions.

LoudReader reads with natural offline voices, so the whole book works on a plane or underground. It is fully on-device and private, your library never leaves your device. Listening is unlimited on the free tier.