Sherlock Holmes is listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most portrayed human literary figure in the history of film or television. There have been more than 25,000 publications, stage dramatizations, films or television productions featuring the world’s most famous detective, and his influence on the development of the genre of mystery cannot be overestimated. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created the character in 1887 in his novel A Study in Scarlet, and subsequently wrote a series of short stories featuring Holmes for The Strand magazine. Having tired of Holmes, he eventually killed of his hero in 1893, but the public outcry was so strong that Conan Doyle resurrected Holmes eight years later, and ultimately published four novels and 56 short stories featuring the great detective.
Although you don’t often see Holmes books on any of these “100 Greatest” lists, if you’re talking about “most beloved” books in English, how can you legitimately leave out the most popular character in English literature? Well, you can’t. Or at least, I can’t. the only question is, which book do you include? Though A Study in Scarlet does have the distinction of introducing the character and beginning the series, there are some difficulties with the book and its depiction of Mormons, so that it is something of an unpalatable choice. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the first collection of short stories, with such classics as “A Scandal in Bohemia” and “The Speckled Band,” might be a popular choice (and I am not above expanding my list of “lovable novels” to include collections of short stories as well—as will be seen in future posts), my own favorite is actually the most popular of all Holmes books, the third Sherlock novel The Hound of the Baskervilles. And so it is the Hound that gets my nomination as #27 on my list of the “100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language.” As support for my inclusion of the novel here, I would cite the fact that in 1999, a poll of Sherlock fans ranked Hound of the Baskervilles as the best of the four Holmes novels. And, casting a wider net, in the BBC’s “The Big Read” poll of 2003, the novel was ranked as number 128 in the top 200 books when respondents were asked to choose the “best-loved novel” in the UK.
Conan Doyle based his novel on a Devonshire legend he’d heard from his friend, he folklorist Bertram Fletcher Robinson, on a golfing holiday. When he came to write it, he was compelled, largely by popular demand, to make it a Holmes mystery, even though he’d sent Sherlock over the Reichenbach Falls eight years earlier with his arch-enemy Dr. Moriarty in what was intended to be his last case, what his fictional chronicler Dr. Watson entitled “The Final Problem.” And Conan Doyle did not intend to resurrect Homes with this novel: he makes it clear that the story takes place in 1889, and is more of a “prequel” to the final problem, and not a new start. But when the first installment of The Hound of the Baskervilles appeared in The Strand in August 1901 and pushed the circulation of the magazine up by 30,000 readers, the popularity all but forced Conan Doyle to bring Holmes back in future stories—after all, his body was never found after going over the falls.
The novel opens with—what else?—a mysterious and terrifying death. Dr. James Mortimer visits Holmes and Watson at their 221 Baker Street address in London, and relates the legend of an ancient curse on the Baskerville family of Devon: During the English Civil War, Sir Hugo Baskerville had kidnapped a local farmer’s daughter who escaped. Sir Hugo reportedly made a Faust-like pact with the devil and went off to pursue the girl. Later, searchers found the girl dead from fright, along with the mauled body of Sir Hugo. The demonic hound that killed Sir Hugo has haunted the moors ever since, and caused the deaths of a whole string of Baskerville heirs.
Mortimer is the friend and executor of the latest fatality, Sir Charles Baskerville, who had just taken possession of Baskerville Hall after spending many years in South Africa. Sir Charles has been found dead on his estate, a look or horror on his face and lying near the footprints of some gigantic beast. Mortimer fears for the life of the new Baskerville heir, Charles nephew Sir Henry, who is determined to take over the estate despite the curse—and despite an anonymous letter warning him to stay away. Holmes doesn’t believe in any curse, but he and Watson go with Mortimer to meet Sir Henry anyway when he arrives in London from Canada. When Holmes learns that Henry has inherited a great fortune from his uncle, he suspects someone may be willing to murder the new heir to collect his fortune, and Holmes sends Watson to Baskerville hall to help protect Sir Henry and report back to him.
At Baskerville Hall, Watson meets Mr. and Mrs. Barrymore, who are the estate’s butler and housekeeper. When he and Sir Henry tour the neighborhood to meet the residents, Watson meets a grumpy old neighbor named Frankland, but he is particularly interested in Jack and Beryl Stapleton, a gregarious brother and a sister who warns Watson of danger. Meanwhile, Watson is hearing distant howls in the evening, and also learns that a convicted murderer named Seldon has escaped from Dartmoor Prison and may be lurking somewhere in the moors. Watson becomes suspicious when he sees Barrymore apparently signaling at night to someone on the moor, and learns that Seldon is actually Mrs. Barrymore’s brother. But another clue emerges when Barrymore reveals that Frankland’s daughter Laura was somehow connected to Sir Charles, the former baronet of the estate.
Watson tries to investigate a strange man he has seen on the moor and discovers it is in fact Holmes himself, who has come secretly to investigate on his own. And that is where I think I will end he summary, since I don’t want to give away any of the working out of the mystery. The plot is, of course, always of great significance in a detective story, and in TheHound of the Baskervilles Conan Doyle weaves together five different plot strands: the story of the family curse, the story of the murderer Selden, the question of Laura’s connection to Charles, the mysterious events witnessed by Watson as Sir Henry’s guest, and the place of the Stapletons in all of this. And the novel’s denouement satisfies everything, as the end of a mystery should.
But of course, a Sherlock Holmes story always has more to offer, in particular the characters: Dr. John Watson, the narrator of this and almost all of Holmes’ stories, is the reader’ surrogate, who follows the investigation with interest, does what he can, and is amazed when Homes finds the answer. He is usually someone the reader can feel superior to when he is able to solve the mystery more quickly than Watson can. And of course there’s Sherlock himself, the unflappable, ultra-rational investigator, whose deductive skills and skads of arcane knowledge prove every riddle to be “elementary.”
How well-loved is this novel? There have been at least 35 film and screen adaptations of The Hound of the Baskervilles, going all the way back to a four-part German film from 1914-15. There have been silent, animated, and live-action adaptations, with more German, Russian, Japanese, Indian, and Ukrainian versions alongside Canadian, British, Australian, and American films. Perhaps the best of these is Sidney Lanfield’s 1939 American adaptation starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock and Nigel Bruce as Watson. It’s a gem, and I’d recommend viewing it. But not until after you’ve read the novel.