(CNN) -- Sherlock Holmes is back, and it's more than elementary my dear Watson. 

Eighty-one years after the death of his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and more than 100 years since the last original story, the world's greatest detective returns in a new novel, "The House of Silk." 

The novel may be the peak of what's been recent Holmes renaissance, including "Sherlock," a successful, modern adaptation for the BBC. There's also a Hollywood film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law which re-imagines Holmes and Watson as steampunk action heroes, it was a hit with movie-goers, even spawning a sequel this holiday. 

Bookstore shelves are loaded with tributes, pastiches, spinoffs and repackaged versions of the "sacred 60," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 56 original short stories and 4 novels, but "The House of Silk" stands apart. 

It's the first new Holmes novel authorized and written with the endorsement of the Conan Doyle estate. 

Picking up the Meerschaum pipe is Anthony Horowitz, a bestselling novelist and television producer from Britain. Horowitz penned the extremely popular, Alex Rider series, about a teenage super-spy. 

He's also written and produced several popular television dramas, including "Foyle's War," and "Midsomer Murders" both seen on PBS. Horowitz says he didn't tinker much with Conan Doyle's creation, hoping to preserve the flavor and tone of the original stories while giving the new novel a modern sensibility and pace. 

"The House of Silk" is set in 1890, a London shrouded in fog and shadow, where Hansom cabs still roam the streets. Watson now lives in a retirement home, Holmes is dead a year. Watson recounts one of their earlier cases, so shocking; the pages of its telling have stayed in his solicitor's safe for 100 years. 
How many stories in all?
56 original short stories and 4 novels