Publisher's Synopsis
His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes is a 1917 collection of previously published Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, including the titular short story, "His Last Bow. The War Service of Sherlock Holmes" (1917). The collection's first US edition adjusts the anthology's subtitle to Some Later Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes. All editions contain a brief preface, by "John H. Watson, M.D.", that assures readers that as of the date of publication Holmes is long retired from his profession of detective but is still alive and well, albeit suffering from a touch of rheumatism.During the dark days of World War I, a young British soldier asked Arthur Conan Doyle what Sherlock Holmes was doing to assist in the war effort. That encounter reputedly inspired the story "His Last Bow," in which the celebrated detective is drawn from his retirement to reunite with the ever-faithful Dr. Watson for their final challenge, unmasking a German spy.Seven additional short stories, originally published in The StrandMagazine, recount episodes leading up to the master sleuth's grand finale. "The Bruce-Partington Plans," also involves espionage, this time in an earlier setting and concerning the recovery of purloined plans for building a submarine. Other mysteries find Watson and Holmes pursuing a deposed dictator, unraveling a crime of passion, tracking down a foreign crime syndicate, outwitting a poisoner, investigating an heiress's disappearance, and interrupting their vacation in Cornwall to solve a devilish case of murder and madness.
