With echoes of Edgar Allan Poe, this 1902 novel continues to delight mystery-lovers. Elegantly written in formal prose, the story focuses on the moor surrounding the ancestral home of Sir Henry Baskerville, an American who has inherited it upon the mysterious death of his uncle Charles. The moor is so treacherous that no one dares venture upon it at night--one step off the path, and the mire will swallow the unfortunate victim.
Family legend says that a sadistic Baskerville from the eighteenth century once loosed a huge and ferocious dog in pursuit of a woman who had escaped his clutches, and that she had died of fright when she heard the dog panting behind her on the moor. The lecherous Baskerville, in pursuit, had had his throat torn out by this "dog from hell." The ghostly dog can still be heard howling on the moors, and many believe it was the dog which caused the elderly Sir Charles Baskerville to have his fatal heart attack.
In classically Gothic style, the novel features mysterious cries from the moor, foggy nights, an escaped prisoner, signals by candlelight, a butler who knows more than he says, a beautiful woman with a mysterious past, a small boy who carries messages, and someone who spies on the dark and isolated Baskerville Hall. Sherlock Holmes plays a lesser role in this story than he does in most others, remaining in London while Dr. Watson accompanies Sir Henry to his estate as an observer and protector.
Holmes, of course, is operating behind the scenes, learning about the activities at Baskerville Hall through the daily accounts which Watson sends him (and which reveal much of the action to the reader). By no means the bumbling character which films have portrayed, Watson offers sensible advice to Sir Henry and shows a keen eye for details of interest to Holmes.
Though the prose is often "purple" with melodrama and overwrought description, this contributes to the fun of the novel, providing a dramatic counterweight to the extreme logic of Sherlock Holmes, whose late appearance in the novel comes as a carefully timed surprise. The story is intriguing, the mysteries are well developed, the atmosphere is suitably spooky, and the resolution, though not really surprising, is appropriate. Even if the story had not been made into a memorable film with Basil Rathbone, The Hound of the Baskervilles would still be justly famous as Conan Doyle's best developed mystery, a genuine classic of the genre. Mary Whipple
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