Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles (Book Review)

Full spoilers for the entire book below. Proceed with caution.

For other book reviews, click HERE:

Title: Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Publication Date: Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902; 2014 (audio)
Publisher: Audible, Inc.
Narrated By: Derek Jacoby
Recording time: 6 hrs, 22 minutes

THE PLOT

via wiki:

In London, Dr James Mortimer asks for the aid of Sherlock Holmes. He recounts the legend of a curse that has run in the Baskerville family since the time of the English Civil War, when Sir Hugo Baskerville kidnapped a farmer’s daughter. When the girl escaped, Hugo made a deal with the devil and pursued her. Hugo’s companions found the girl dead of fear and Hugo killed by a demonic hound, which has haunted Dartmoor ever since, causing the premature death of many Baskerville heirs. Mortimer says that his friend Sir Charles Baskerville, who took the legend seriously, was found dead in the yew alley of his estate, Baskerville Hall, on Dartmoor. A locally noted philanthropist, Sir Charles had retired to his family estate in 1887 after some years in South Africa, where he had made a fortune through shrewd investments. His death was attributed to a heart attack, but his face had an expression of horror, and not far from his body were the footprints of a gigantic hound.

As the executor of Sir Charles’s will, Mortimer fears for the new Baskerville baronet, Sir Henry Baskerville, the nephew of Sir Charles. Sir Charles had been the eldest of three Baskerville brothers; after Sir Henry, there were no further immediate heirs to the title and estate. Sir Charles’s youngest brother, Rodger, who had led a scandalous life in England, had fled to Central America, where he had died of yellow fever in 1876, apparently unmarried and childless. Though he dismisses the curse as nonsense, Holmes agrees to meet Sir Henry, who is arriving soon from Canada, sceptical of the legend and eager to take possession of Baskerville Hall in spite of receiving an anonymous note warning him to stay away from the moor; Holmes also witnesses someone following Sir Henry. Later, Mortimer reveals that Sir Henry had inherited a vast fortune from his late uncle – £740,000 (equivalent to £87,000,000 in 2021^[6]). Realising this provides a strong motive for anyone trying to do Sir Henry harm, Holmes asks Watson to go with Sir Henry and Mortimer, in order to protect the baronet and investigate who is following him.

The trio arrive at Baskerville Hall where a married couple, the Barrymores, are butler and housekeeper. The estate is near the Grimpen Mire, where anyone can sink to their death. Meanwhile, convicted murderer Selden has escaped from Dartmoor Prison and is hiding on the moor. During their first night, Sir Henry and Watson hear the sound of a woman crying. In the daylight, they explore the neighbourhood and meet its residents; Watson sends details of his investigations to Holmes. Among the residents, the Stapletons, brother and sister, stand out: Jack is overfriendly and curious about the newcomers, while Beryl seems weary of the place and attempts to warn Sir Henry of danger. Distant howls start troubling Watson. He grows suspicious of Barrymore, who signals at night with a candle to someone on the moor. Sir Henry is drawn to Beryl despite her brother’s attitude to any relationship. Meanwhile Frankland, an old and grumpy neighbour, likes to spy on others with his telescope and sees ancient tombs have been excavated by Mortimer. Watson and Sir Henry investigate the Barrymores and find that Selden is Mrs Barrymore’s brother. During an unsuccessful attempt to catch Selden, Watson sees an unknown man standing on a tor. They learn from Barrymore that Frankland’s estranged daughter Laura has unclear ties to Sir Charles.

Watson investigates the man on the tor and discovers that it is Holmes, who explains that he came secretly to the moor to hide his direct involvement. Holmes explains that he is close to solving the mystery. He explains that Stapleton is the suspect and that Beryl is actually Stapleton’s wife, abused and forced into posing as his sister so as to influence Sir Henry and expose him to the hound. The hound kills a man on the moor whom Holmes and Watson fear is Sir Henry, but turns out to be Selden. Barrymore had given him Sir Henry’s discarded clothes. Holmes decides to use Baskerville as bait to catch Stapleton. While dining with Sir Henry and Watson, Holmes suddenly notices a portrait of Sir Hugo Baskerville and recognises a family resemblance to Stapleton. He tells Sir Henry to accept an invitation to Stapleton’s house and walk back after dark, giving his enemy every chance to unleash the hound.

Holmes and Watson pretend to leave Dartmoor by train but instead hide near Stapleton’s house with Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard. Despite thick fog, Holmes and Watson manage to kill the hound when it attacks Sir Henry. They find Beryl tied up in Stapleton’s house, while Stapleton himself, in his flight from the scene, seemingly drowns in the mire. Back in London, following a visit from Sir Henry and Dr. Mortimer, who leave on a trip around the world to help improve Sir Henry’s nerves, Holmes explains to Watson that Stapleton was none other than Sir Henry’s cousin, Rodger Baskerville, the only son of his namesake father who had died in 1876, and who had been hoping to inherit the family estate. A physical and spiritual throwback to Sir Hugo Baskerville, he had intended to kill his relations with a vicious hound painted with phosphorus to appear sinister. He had promised Laura marriage and convinced her to lure Sir Charles out of his house at night, in order to frighten him with the animal; the superstitious Sir Charles suffered a heart attack. Holmes remarks to Watson that Stapleton had been one of the most formidable foes they had ever encountered.

My Review:

I really enjoyed The Hound of the Baskervilles. The story was written from the perspective of Sherlock Holmes’ partner, Dr. Watson, from some point in the future after the events of the novel were completed. As a result, the language of the book is that of an educated man from the 19th century. The vocabulary was not something I found difficult, though the style of the writing is distinctively Victorian. I listened to an audio recording of the book, performed by Derek Jacoby, and that probably aided me with any misunderstandings I might have felt if I were narrating to myself. I prefer audio readings for period books because I find that intonation and delivery can often convey the meaning of words when my brain is not accustomed to hearing those words used. Jacoby’s performance was excellent, portraying the various characters and situations in a way that had my earphones glued to my earholes.

The mystery was well-conceived and though it became pretty obvious who the murderer was, midway through the book, the author did not play all of the cards in explaining how the murders are happening or how to stop him until near the end. Even after the almost omniscient Holmes figures tings out, the bad guy almost gets away. The excellent execution of a slow-building tension, then narrowly won victory, proved to me why this character has become a franchise, more than a century old, that has endured into the present. The source material is rich, dark, and entertaining.

Though Doyle writes about murder, his story is not gory or macabre. The villain and his actions are not glamorized. In that respect, I appreciated this mystery as compared to a lot of the modern fare from the present. I think sometimes, in the present, these types of stories can veer too much toward celebrating and basking in the evil deeds of the antagonist. This book provides an evil and murderous opponent for Holmes, but the author does not try to demonstrate the threat he poses by graphically describing his crimes. Less can be more.

I suspect a character like Holmes can be difficult to enjoy, in the wrong hands. He’s nearly all-knowing. However, Doyle hides Holmes’ conclusions from the reader until such a time as their reveal is interesting, and his actions manage to be sufficiently surprising so as to avoid being boring. In particular, I enjoyed the reveal in this book that Holmes had been on-site throughout the book, in secret, and the reveal was great inasmuch as Doyle provides some misdirection to the reader in letting us believe Watson was about to put himself in danger by confronting the murder suspect. The sense of danger became an enjoyable release of tension when Watson discovers tha the stranger is Holmes.

Oddly, perhaps the most tragic figure in the story is the Hound itself. It did not choose to be misused or abused. It simply had the misfortune of being taken in by the wrong owner. Perhaps under other circumstances, it might have been a good and faithful pet. Alas, though, Holmes had to kill the dog to save his client. I’ll choose to view the whole encounter as Holmes saving the gigantic good boy from becoming a murderer. He won’t be wearing any scary costuming in Heaven.

The novel ends with the murderer presumably dead. We never saw a body though, and the modern rule is that “no body = not dead,” though I do not know if this rule existed in the 1800s. Perhaps not. For me, as a modern reader, the fact that he might have survived adds an element of intrigue. That said, if he did in fact die, that’s not disappointing either.

Overall, I am glad I picked this up. It was a short, well-written, and entertaining murder-mystery. I particularly enjoyed Doyle’s skill in creating the vividly ominous setting and Derek Jacoby’s performance as the narrator. I look forward to reading more Sherlock Holmes in the future.