"The Adventure of the Empty House" is the first Sherlock Holmes short story of the 13 collected in The Return of Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Public pressure forced Conan Doyle to bring Holmes back to life, and explain his apparently miraculous survival of a deadly struggle with Professor Moriarty. Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Empty House" sixth in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories.