Reception was enthusiastic on publication, driven substantially by public relief at Holmes's return rather than critical assessment of the individual stories. The Adventure of the Empty House drew enormous readership to the Strand Magazine and the collection sold strongly. Contemporary reviewers were generally positive while noting that the circumstances of resurrection required some narrative contrivance. Modern critical assessment is more measured - the collection is considered uneven, with a handful of stories matching the best of the earlier work and others falling short. The Adventure of the Dancing Men and The Adventure of the Six Napoleons are consistently ranked among the canon's finest; several others are regarded as minor. The Return is generally placed third in critical rankings of the five collections.