If ever I saw a murderers mouth it was there a cruel, hard gash in the face, compressed, inexorable, and terrible. In 1901, Conan Doyle finally bowed to public pressure and resurrected the nation's favourite detective. Featuring the last 12 stories ever written about Sherlock Holmes, this collection contains some of Conan Doyle's most villainous and unusual characters. The disillusionment and disenchantment felt in the 1920s is reflected in the darker mood of many of the stories and many believe that the author's developing interest in Spiritualism influenced the themes he chose to explore.