Golden Age detective fiction meets gothic horror. What could be better? Recently, I picked up my copy of all of Sherlock Holmes’ stories. I turned straight to this specific tale, The Hound of Baskervilles, because it has to be one of my favorites.
I mean, take the plot. A country doctor visits Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. They are asked to watch over the heir to the Baskerville ancestral home after his uncle has seemingly been frightened to death by a source unknown. The legend of a monstrous, murdrous hound who hunts down all the male members of the Baskerville family comes to light. Not one, but two beautiful women come onto the scene, plus a botanist, a suspicious butler and wife, an escaped convict, and many more interesting characters.
Is the problem a supernatural one? Or is someone trying to kill the heir and take the large fortune amassed by the family for themselves? Add to that the setting: an English moor. Picture an open wild landscape riddled with fog, quicksand, desolate structures, and bogs for the backdrop of this classic story.
Doyle’s descriptive writing makes you feel like you are right there, and his use of tension and suspense is masterful. Don’t miss this great story. I believe I’ve also watched every version I could find on television, from the old black-and-whites to more modern ones.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson face a mystery on the moors in this classic caper from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
A country doctor has come to 221B Baker Street, the lodgings of famed detective Sherlock Holmes, with the eerie tale of the Hound of the Baskervilles. The legend warns the descendants of the Baskerville family never to venture out on the moors that surround their ancestral home, for fear that they will meet the devil-beast that lurks there.
Such a story sounds preposterous to any man of reason, but now Sir Charles Baskerville is dead—and the footprints of a giant hound have been found near his body. Sherlock Holmes and his faithful friend Dr. John Watson agree to investigate the truth of the matter. They will soon learn that in this case, nothing is quite as it seems….
The most famous of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, The Hound of the Baskervilles, is a classic of masterful detection and hair-raising suspense.
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