The Adventure of the Empty House

The Adventure of the Empty House is the story that marks Sherlock Holmes's dramatic return to London after his presumed death at the Reichenbach Falls. Three years after the event, Holmes suddenly appears in Watson's study disguised as an elderly bookseller, revealing he survived and spent the intervening years traveling. The two friends are soon drawn into the baffling murder of Ronald Adair, a young aristocrat who was shot in the head inside a locked room with no apparent motive or entry. Holmes deduces that the killer is Colonel Sebastian Moran, Moriarty's former chief of staff, who is now targeting Holmes himself. Using a wax dummy of himself placed in the Baker Street window as bait, Holmes and Watson wait in the titular empty house across the street. Moran attempts to shoot the "Holmes" with a powerful air rifle, only to be captured by the detective in a clever sting operation. The story ends with Holmes's official return to 221B Baker Street and Moran's arrest.