To truly engage with any story, the reader has to like or at least care about the central character.  This is something which I have always found difficult about the original Empty House.

I had followed as the earlier stories took me through the many adventures Watson had experienced since meeting his eccentric friend in the lab at St Barts. I had come to learn through his words that Sherlock Holmes was not simply a thinking machine but also possessed a great heart.  I truly believed that he cared deeply for Watson and trusted him above all others.  But then along comes the Empty House and these beliefs are thrown into doubt.

I find it hard to like Holmes in the Empty House.  At the centre of the story is a massive lie and we learn that rather than trust Watson with the most important secret of all, Holmes turns…