“The Adventure of the Empty House” was first published in 1903.
Arthur Conan Doyle published the story in The Strand Magazine in September 1903. It marked Sherlock Holmes’s dramatic return after readers had believed him dead following the struggle with Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls.
Within the story, Holmes explains that he survived the encounter and spent time travelling in disguise. He returns to London because Colonel Sebastian Moran, a dangerous former military officer, is pursuing a criminal scheme involving an air gun.
The story is especially important in publication history because Doyle had attempted to end Holmes’s adventures with “The Final Problem” in 1893. Public demand eventually led him to revive the detective. The Empty House therefore begins the later collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes.