Three years have passed since Sherlock Holmes and his nemesis Moriarty vanished into the abyss of the Reichenbach Falls. In that time the criminals of London have been able to sleep safe in their beds. But the capital has never been in greater need of its protector.

And so it is that Dr Watson meets a mysterious deformed man who reveals the truth behind the fateful final conflict between Holmes and Moriarty, and paves the way for the extraordinary return of the world's greatest sleuth in these thirteen tales of mystery and deduction:

The Empty House • The Norwood Builder • The Dancing Men • The Solitary Cyclist • The Priory School •

Black Peter • Charles Augustus Milverton • The Six Napoleons • The Three Students • The Golden Pince-Nez • The Missing Three-Quarter • The Abbey Grange • The Second Stain

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859 and died in 1930. He set up as a doctor in Southsea, and it was while waiting for patients that he began to write. As well as his Sherlock Holmes stories, Conan Doyle wrote historical romances and science fiction.

Sir Derek Jacobi has had a long and distinguished career. He has toured in Becket and Uncle Vanya, and he received a Tony Award for his performance as Benedick in the RSC's production of Much Ado About Nothing. Television work includes the lead roles in Cadfael and I, Claudius, while among his films are The Golden Compass, Henry V, Gosford Park and Hamlet.