The Hound of the Baskervilles

Arguably the most well-known of all the stories, long or short, The Hound has become a bit of a legend all of its own. And, it holds the honour of being the first Sherlock Holmes story I ever read - bought from a second-hand book stall for about 20p when I was a child. I started to read it and my mind flooded with images of the fearful, foggy moors, the horrors of the pony dying in the great Grimpen Mire, the dreadful hell-hound with his fangs and flames, the evil Stapleton, the escaped convict, the abused wife and dashing baronet - what’s not to love? I was quickly hooked and totally fascinated by the mind and character of the man upon whom the whole narrative hung - Sherlock Holmes.

I was a bit of an eccentric child, given to fantasy, bit of a loner (except for a few much loved friends) and given to striding off on strange adventures. I didn’t follow the pack or try to be fashionable, popular, or for want of a better word - normal. So in Holmes I recognised a fellow eccentric and loved him for it - somehow it felt as if he legitimised me, made being different cool. A life-long enjoyment was born and I will always regard The Hound with great affection for that reason.

The story first appeared in The Strand magazine in serialisation form between August 1901 to April 1902 - that’s a long time to wait and see whodunit. Holmes had been ‘killed off’ by his creator in 1893 in The Final Problem but after a break of eight years, Sir Arthur decided to write this new story which pre-dated that fateful tale. He was inspired by the story of Squire Richard Cabell - an evil Devonshire man who, after his death allegedly lead a pack of ghostly hounds across the moors. Interestingly, Doyle did know a Baskerville family and even stayed with them at Baskerville Hall, but it was located in Wales rather than Devon. Doyle changed the location to protect his friends from the intrusion of tourists.

Unlike the highly complicated plot of The Sign of Four, most of which happens abroad, this story is simple, easy to follow and perfectly set on the wild and atmospheric landscape of Dartmoor. In essence, the narrative is centred on an old family curse of a supernatural hound that killed dastardly villain Sir Hugo Baskerville. Rumours circulate around the village of Grimpen where the Baskerville family estate is situated that the hound has come back to stalk the family once more. Sir Charles Baskerville died mysteriously of fright and large animal footprints were found next to the body - ‘Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!’

Before his heir, Sir Henry, takes up his inheritance and travels to the family home, he and family friend Doctor Mortimer consult Sherlock Holmes for advice. Holmes takes up the case, sending Watson to Dartmoor to accompany the baronet but insisting that he is too busy to go himself. He follows in secret, staying out on the moors and receiving reports from Watson as the situation develops - reports which he is actually rather complimentary about. In fact Watson receives various compliments from Holmes in this novel and their friendship seems deeper than ever. This includes the now famous line, ‘It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt.’ Though Holmes does somewhat retract this later on - ‘When I said that you stimulated me I meant, to be frank, that in noting your fallacies I was occasionally guided towards the truth.’ Did he mean this, or was he just uncomfortable about having been so nice?

He does pay Watson another compliment when explaining to Sir Henry why he is sending Watson to accompany him back to Dartmoor - ‘There is no man better worth having at your side when you are in a tight place. No one can say so more confidently than I.’ This time he doesn’t take it back.

Even Lestrade gets a compliment, albeit a bit half-hearted - ‘Best of the professionals, I think.’ So not completely convinced then? Lestrade returns the compliment upon his arrival at Dartmoor when he - ‘Gazes at Holmes in a reverential way. He had learned a good deal from when they first worked together.’

We are treated to some brilliant deduction right from the start of the story, from the analysis of a walking stick to the mysterious warning letter Sir Henry receives while still in London. We are given pages of analysis over the letter which is simply brilliant and includes everything from Holmes identifying exactly which newspaper and article the words have been cut from to the fact they were cut with nail scissors.

Once the drama transfers to the moors the story starts to develop and we meet Stapleton, the strange man dancing around with his butterfly net and described as a naturalist - not to be confused with naturist (people who like to be naked) like I did when I first read the story! I pictured him bouncing around in the nude chasing butterflies like a hippy.

Stapleton is, of course, the villain of the piece (and fully clothed at all times). He is actually a Baskerville descendant and next in line to inherit the fortune if Sir Henry dies. He keeps a huge, ferocious, half-starved dog hidden in a mine shaft and gives it the hellish appearance by applying phosphorus to its muzzle creating bluish flames. The very site of it was enough to kill Sir Charles due to his weak heart. Stapleton finally sets the hound upon Sir Henry but Holmes, Watson and Lestrade are lying in wait to save the day.

We are treated to a happy, tidy ending with the dog shot dead, Sir Henry able to enjoy his inherited fortune and Stapleton suspected to have fallen into the Grimpen Mire and died. Hurrah!

The first thing that pops into my mind whenever I think of The Hound will always be that compelling image of Holmes upon the Black Tor - ‘As far as I could judge, the figure was that of a tall, thin man. He stood with his legs a little separated, his arms folded, his head bowed, as if he were brooding over that enormous wilderness of peat and granite which lay before him. He might have been the very spirit of that terrible place.’ I can really see him standing there in the moonlight, tails of his coat blowing in the wind as the mist and fog swirls around him. There is something about this story that really does stay with you and it’s full of atmospheric strong images just like that one.

I love The Hound of the Baskervilles just as much as I did the first time I read it, if not more. I give it a confident 10 out of 10.