Much more readable and fun then I imagined!
“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.”

I always thought that actors who play Sherlock Holmes are overacting in terms of his overconfidence and arrogance, but the source material does not lie. In the first chapter already Sherlock basically says to Watson that he is kept around so to he himself can feel extra smart, while in the second chapter Sherlock just happens to be a ancient handwriting specialist and he casually name drops an assignment to the Pope to Dr. Mortimer.

What a case this Dr. Mortimer brings with him to Holmes and Watson! The old and rich baronet Baskerville dies seemingly out of fear for something he saw in the moors. Not so strange, taking into account that the moors are wide, wild, scarcely populated but full of stories. One of these legends concerns an earlier Baskerville who was hounded by a demonic dog (which, with the escaped convict, just screamed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to me, good on you J.K.!) because of his misbehaviour, although his alleged rough character is brought in perspective immediately by the following sentence:

“...this Manor of Baskerville was held by Hugo of that name, nor can it be gainsaid that he was a most wild, profane, and godless man. This, in truth, his neighbours might have pardoned, seeing that saints have never flourished in those parts...”

Already in London some action takes place but the tension really starts when Watson is send to Baskerville hall to keep out an eye on the heir. The atmosphere is delightful and fitting a demonic dog, with a lot of fog and an escaped convict somewhere in the moors. Twist and turns, spiced up with colourful characters make The Hounds of the Baskerville a compelling read.

Sometimes you do note the age of the book, for instance when Watson just sees from the shape of someone’s forehead and the position of someone’s eyes whether or not that person is a criminal. Also I was quite happy with the briljant but condescending Holmes not being around all the time.

Overall a nice reading experience and 3,5 stars for this classic detective tale, rounded up.

Classic and so good! I am glad I finally read this.

I am familiar with Sherlock Holmes, but I am not sure I have ever actually read any of the books. Throughout my life, I have seen many Holmes movies and various pop culture references, so it is all kind of mashed together in my head. By reading The Hound of the Baskervilles I now know with 100% certainty that I have read a Holmes book.

And . . . it seems like it was a great place to start!

Sometimes when reading classic mysteries, they get kind of muddled and confusing for me. When reading Agatha Christie, I often have to go back over sections to clear things up or when I get to the resolution, I will find I missed something. This has also happened for me when watching the Downey, Jr. Holmes movies. But, thankfully, this was not an issue for me with the Hound of the Baskervilles. The mystery is interesting, easy to follow, and progresses nicely. It has lots of the Holmes tropes that anyone with even a passive interest in Holmes would know about. All in all, a very satisfying experience.

Looking to start your Holmes journey? I think starting here would be "Elementary"!

I'd been toying with the idea of reading books in French. I can understand the language - but as for speaking it, well here's another ball game. I read part of this edition in my class when I was 13 years old. I read when the hound was racing towards its would be victim.

Would be victim...due to Sherlock Holmes' intervention. Holmes is a very fantastic, very popular character. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, though he claimed to loathe the character, had a hidden fondness for Holmes. The author was furious with the treatment of his creation in the hands of Maurice Leblanc, who was the creator of Arsene Lupin.

Movie and TV adaptations come and go, but the purity of Sherlock Holmes is like vapor to the uninitiated. Us fans know secretly what makes him tick. But we cannot transcribe ourselves in certain terms. We lack the knowledge how to pin the exactitude of Homes as portrayed in the original 4 novels and 56 short stories. Same for the directors and wannabe authors who wish to ape Doyle.

This was an experiment. And I think I succeeded in enjoying the story, known as it was to me in an earlier reading in English. The Hound of the Baskervilles was really wildly successful only in retrospective. Now it is part of the legacy of the detective. The meerschaum pipe and the hunting apparel are nearly part of folklore, and I enjoyed visiting it thoroughly. Highly recommended.

The ultimate tale of the ultimate Victorian hero, The Hound of the Baskervilles is a true masterpiece of the mystery genre, and quite possibly remains the finest mystery novel ever produced -- even if its first appearance was serialized in Strand Magazine.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's unforgettable hero Sherlock Holmes matches his wits against what appears to be a centuries old curse and the ghostly hound that exacts vengeance on the Baskerville ancestors for Sir Hugo Baskerville's sadistic misdeeds in the time of Oliver Cromwell.

Of course, (I will try not to spoil it for anyone) the curse turns out to be a classic Victorian crime motivated by money and perpetrated with the application of science to prey on the superstitious nature of a people still getting used to the Industrial Revolution. Classic Victorian crime, indeed. But also classic Holmes.

And this is the best of Holmes.

The action is taut and well drawn, the mystery is compelling, Dr. Watson has a brief spell as the star while Holmes does some hidden work in the moors, the villain is an arrogant cad, and the supporting characters, from the unfortunate escaped convict, Bruce Seldon, to the suspicious Barrymores, round out the perfect population of Victorian archetypes (but it must be remembered that while these archetypes may seem cliche to us today, they would have been fresh and new when Doyle put pen to paper).

There may be better Holmes short stories (I'll always be partial to "A Scandal in Bohemia" and the lovely Irene Adler), but none of the Holmes stories can compete with The Hound of the Baskervilles' breadth and scope. It is the mystery book that all mystery writers aspire to match for greatness, and the mystery book that all mystery readers must read if they are to call themselves fans of the genre.

But let me put genre aside for a second and just say this: The Hound of the Baskervilles is a great mystery novel, yes. But it is also a great novel. One of the best ever written. Period.

welcome to...THE HOUND OF THE DECEMBERVILLES.

man, every sherlock holmes title sounds like it was randomly generated by a computer.

anyway, it's another PROJECT LONG CLASSICS installment. this is not that long of a classic, but i couldn't think of a better pun (i know – think of how low of a bar), so i'll be reading a chapter of this per day all month long.

let's get into it!


CHAPTER 1: MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES
likely title for chapter 1 to be.

kind of fun to just watch watson and holmes gossip for a while...attempt their little "deductions" and whatnot. and then also be totally wrong.


CHAPTER 2: THE CURSE OF THE BASKERVILLES
inching ever closer to that title.

unfortunately i find it very difficult to be scared by the thought of a big dog, which is the best kind of dog there is.


CHAPTER 3: THE PROBLEM
to be honest i would have pinpointed "guy murdered by magic ghost dog" as the problem. but i guess that's why i'm not sherlock holmes.


CHAPTER 4: SIR HENRY BASKERVILLE
i bet this guy is about to seem completely innocent and normal.

he actually does seem okay. but the doctor just revealed a phrenology side interest that i'm not loving.


CHAPTER 5: THREE BROKEN THREADS
i want to say that holmes and watson have a will they / won't they thing going on, but i'm scared of the fanfiction creators i would align myself with.


CHAPTER 6: BASKERVILLE HALL
oh, what a coincidence. there's a deranged escaped murderer lurking around our new neighborhood. chekhov's nearby serial killer.


CHAPTER 7: THE STAPLETONS OF MERRIPIT HOUSE
can't a woman even sob horrifically through the night with no tangible cause without being considered a clue in a murder anymore?


CHAPTER 8: FIRST REPORT OF DR. WATSON
can't wait for this dork's basic thoughts to be translated into brilliance by sherlock.

i have to say, it's an interesting strategy for a (checks notes) sherlock holmes book to have its hero offpage the whole time for...the incredible reasoning of "he's working on other cases which we are not reading about."


CHAPTER 9: SECOND REPORT OF DR. WATSON - THE LIGHT UPON THE MOOR
two people are hunting an actual nearby serial killer in the dead of night on a mysterious moor, and they're more scared of a dog they heard barking. get real.


CHAPTER 10: EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY OF DR. WATSON
no chance this is anything but "Mr. Dr. Sherlock Holmes...Mr. John Holmes...Dr. Mr. John Watson Sherlock Holmes...he loves me, he loves me not..."


CHAPTER 11: THE MAN ON THE TOR
let's play another round of my favorite game: Am I In A Bad Mood Or Was This Twist Annoying?


CHAPTER 12: DEATH ON THE MOOR
dun dun dun!

this is a lot more scandalous than other sherlock installments i've read. all sorts of impropriety happening.


CHAPTER 13: FIXING THE NETS
it's all coming together now...


CHAPTER 14: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
title chapter title chapter title chapter!

we gained awareness of an evil dog and we lost awareness of an evil woman...tragedy unfolding before our eyes.


CHAPTER 15: A RETROSPECTION
sounds like this one will be action-packed.


OVERALL
this is not the best sherlock (he's barely there, the mystery itself requires multiple extensive recaps, the big reveal is kind of drawn out and therefore disappointing) but it's still sherlock.
rating: 3.5

Short yet full-packed with action. I am halfway with my quest to read the whole Sherlock Holmes canon and I've read two of his earlier novels and around 30 of his short stories but I think this novel is just the best so far.

What make this different and better are the following: (1) the gothic ingredient. The fearsome hound with burning read eyes that later said to be because of phosphorus. I fear crazy dogs or dogs running amok because I was bitten by one when I was a small boy; (2) Watson, who usually works as Holmes's sidekick, takes the center stage here; and (3) the narration of the scenery is flawless. The moor that is lovely and romantic in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and boring and dead in Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden becomes fully alive but truly frightening here. While reading, I could almost hear the sobs of the mysterious woman, see the dark gloomy still night with not a soul stirring in it and the pale moon barely lighting the solitary path to the lonely hill. This story's milieu is downright creepy yet it worked tremendously that I have not seen in his earlier works.

As for the plot, too bad, I was able to guess that the villain was that missing person. This is a short novel but since I've read half of the canon already, while reading the first half of the book, I wrote the names of the characters. (Note: I used to do this in all the books I read before but I stopped because some books do not have many characters or not character-driven and it takes more time to read while doing the writing.) So, when it was mentioned that the dead Charles Baskerville has a missing kin, I put a question mark there and oh yeah baby, I got that one right. I think I am benefiting from reading Sherlock Holmes, I now have keener attention to details.

And oh, my copy of this book is hardbound, the pages are pristine, crisp, thick, and glossy and will artist-like sketches or illustrations. Definitely what a bargain find for only $4 (P180)! That one made reading this book truly memorable too because I am used to read tattered books with yellowed and brittle pages. If the story is good, I don't normally care as long as the book is readable and the pages are intact but hey, if the bargain equally good book looks brand new, what more can I ask for?

Happy 4th of July to my American friends here on Goodreads!

n  #RevisitingOldDays:n

My first encounter with Sherlock Holmes was at a time I wasn’t old enough to read an entire sentence in a go. My mother used to be up well past midnight every day, with this huge tome propped open on her pillow, and I couldn’t understand what on earth was she doing when everyone's supposed to sleep. I don't remember in particular what she was reading that day. I do remember what she told me, though. “You won't be able to stop reading either, once you can start reading on your own.”

Years later I started with meagre, most of the times disastrous translations, which more than once ruined my interest entirely. And this one was the first one I got to read in unabridged. Honestly, it was almost like an achievement back then, so much so, I couldn't savour the tale for just being too busy showing off. Erm... even in my head that sounds silly, but that's the way it was.

More than a decade later, I'm here again. And I now understand why I loved this story so much back then amongst all the other works by Christie or Hadley Chase or Sheldon. Though, truth be told, I was slightly put off when I had realized that it was definitely not as far-fetched as many admirers try to make it look like. Well…it’s not flawless obviously, but it’s as near to it as a thriller can get, I feel. And it's not just the late 19th-century hangover, either. And definitely not just the obviously brilliant way the crime was solved. No.

It’s the damp, bleak, almost tenebrous chilliness that we encounter ever since Dr. Mortimer began to relate to our detective the legend of the hound of the Baskervilles. And with the lucidity with which Conan Doyle delineated the moor, and the climax. As a matter of fact I read it once (among many other insignificant times) on a damp winter night, further chilled with the eerie whining of foxes. And well after midnight. Man, it was really an experience to last for a while.

n  "A man's or a woman's?"

Dr. Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered: "Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!”n

"A devilish affair"

When Henry Baskerville, the last remaining scion of the family, travels from Canada to England to take up residence in Baskerville Hall after the puzzling violent death of his uncle, Sir Charles, he is immediately greeted with a string of baffling mysteries not the least of which is the legend of an enormous hound residing on the moors in Devon. Dr James Mortimer, family friend to the Baskervilles, engages Holmes and Watson to advise and protect Henry and to resolve the issue of the hound's existence once and for all. Not one to believe in supernatural phantoms such as this spectral hound from hell endowed with "blazing eyes and dripping jaws", Holmes dispatches Watson to scout out the terrain and place the neighbouring residents under the proverbial magnifying glass - Stapleton, the accomplished entomologist and his beautiful sister, Beryl, who attempts to warn off Henry from taking up residence in the hall; Frankland, a crotchety busybody with a telescope and his troubled daughter, Laura Lyons, recovering from an ill-advised marriage; and the Barrymores, long time butler and housekeeper to the Baskerville family, who are clearly carrying a disturbing secret of their own.

True to the well-established paradigm of the Holmes canon, Doyle allows Watson to tell the tale with a deliciously full serving of speculation, theorizing based on "incomplete data", emotion, gentlemanly bravado, flowery Victorian atmosphere, elegant dialogue, and extensive detail on the routine of daily living at the turn of the century such as communicating by telegram and traveling by coach. His development of the bleak, dark, gloomy atmosphere of the moor is masterful:

"Over the green squares of the fields and the low curve of a wood there rose in the distance a grey, melancholy hill, with a strange jagged summit, dim and vague in the distance, like some fantastic landscape in a dream."

An easy one evening read over the comfortable space of a couple of hours, The Hound of the Baskervilles moves swiftly from the traditional cozy opening of Holmes' Baker Street digs to a resounding climax that is packed with more excitement and action than almost any other story in the entire Holmes litany. Two thumbs up and a five star recommendation to readers of all ages!

Paul Weiss

“Really, Watson, you excel yourself,” said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. "I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt."

“Holmes, you are a condescending bastard”

Well, Watson never said that, though I can imagine Martin Freeman’s rendition of Watson on Sherlock saying it or something similar.

For Holmes is indeed one condescending bastard, and Watson is far too tolerant. The Hound of the Baskervilles is probably the only Sherlock Holmes book that can stand independently outside of the rest of the Holmes canon. People often don’t always think of it as a “Sherlock Holmes book”, but as a thrilling and scary novel in and of itself, regardless of who the hero is.

In this, his most famous adventure, Sherlock Holmes is requested by Sir Henry Baskervilles, the current heir to the wealthy Baskervilles estate, to investigate the mysterious death of his uncle Sir Charles Baskervilles who apparently died of fright. More importantly, Sir Henry’s own life is at risk from the same possibly supernatural agency.

Sherlock is all “You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
cryin' all the time”, gyrating his hips like a demented pop icon, accompanied by his violin of course.*

Arthur Conan Doyle has really outdone himself with The Hound of the Baskervilles, I have read quite a few of his books and this is the most superbly crafted; from the mystifying setup, the “red herring”, the shadowy figure who manages to elude even Holmes on several occasions and the horrifying climax. I love the business with walking stick in the first chapter and the stolen boots. Watson gets to do quite a lot of sleuthing in this one while Holmes is seemingly absent. There are three substantial chapters worth of Watson’s solo adventure, well done, doc! Watson is clearly no fool and he does not embarrass himself at any point, in spite of Holmes’ efforts.

There are some problematical elements in this book. The female characters are all useless and even harmful through their lack of agency. The subplot with the escaped murderous convict is a bit dodgy. At the convict’s brother’s appeal, Henry Baskervilles and Watson agree not to pursue the man because he is going off to the US the next day (or something). So it’s OK to export British psychopaths to the US? ⁀⊙﹏☉⁀ Still, the climax is definitely rousing, and Holmes finds out “who let the dog out” almost too late, but then with “almost” being the operative word it’s all OK.

The Hound of the Baskervilles is great stuff of course, but–honestly-who hasn’t read it or seen some kind of adaptation? It’s elementary.


* It’s in the book, I wrote it in with a Sharpie.
Notes:
• Audio book credit: Mostly read in  Librivox’s audiobook format, magnificently narrated – gratis! - by David Clarke. Thank you!

Quotes:
“Interesting, though elementary," said he as he returned to his favourite corner of the settee. "There are certainly one or two indications upon the stick. It gives us the basis for several deductions.”
Yay! He said The Word! ＼(＾▽＾)／

“I am afraid, my dear Watson, that most of your conclusions were erroneous. When I said that you stimulated me I meant, to be frank, that in noting your fallacies I was occasionally guided towards the truth.”
Poor John! Dump him for Poirot! (though he’d need a time machine for that).

“Would you have any objection to my running my finger along your parietal fissure? A cast of your skull, sir, until the original is available, would be an ornament to any anthropological museum.”
LOL! That’s some kinky shit from Dr. Mortimer, Sir Henry’s pal.

Pics:

Favourite film version from 1959, Christopher Lee as hapless (not hooray) Henry!


Big Finish's excellent cover for their dramatized audiobook adaptation.


Awesome art by Matthew Stewart

10/10

Υπόθεση: Ο Σέρλοκ Χολμς και ο δρ. Γουάτσον καλούνται να λύσουν ένα μυστήριο που σχετίζεται με το θρύλο ενός σκύλου-δαίμονα που καταδιώκει και οδηγεί στον θάνατο τα μέλη της οικογένειας Μπάσκερβιλ.

Πασίγνωστο βιβλίο που δεν είχε τύχει να πέσει στα χέρια μου ως τώρα. Η αλήθεια είναι πως πριν το ξεκινήσω θεωρούσα πως θα ήταν δύσκολο να με ενθουσιάσει αφού θυμόμουν λίγο-πολύ την πλοκή έχοντας δει πριν από χρόνια την ταινία που μου άρεσε πολύ. Τελικά όμως ήταν συναρπαστικό.

Το βιβλίο έχει μία ιδιαίτερα σκοτεινή και μυστηριώδη ατμόσφαιρα που με μαγνήτισε. Όλοι οι χαρακτήρες αποδίδονται τόσο καθαρά που ήταν σαν να τους έβλεπα μπροστά μου. Οι περιγραφές που κάνει ο συγγραφέας είναι τόσες όσες χρειάζεται ο αναγνώστης για να νιώσει το κλίμα του βιβλίου χωρίς να βαρεθεί . Προσωπικά πολύ συχνά βαριέμαι τις περιγραφές και τις προσπερνάω αλλά εδώ ήθελα, επιθυμούσα να τις διαβάσω, ήταν απολαυστικότατες. Η υπόθεση αποτελεί ένα δύσκολο αίνιγμα που εξάπτει πολύ την περιέργεια. Περίμενα πότε θα έχω ελεύθερο χρόνο να συνεχίσω την ανάγνωση, να δω τι θα συμβεί παρακάτω, κι αυτό είναι κάτι που δεν μου συμβαίνει συχνά.

Συμπερασματικά: Υπάρχει ποιότητα στη γραφή, είναι ένα βιβλίο που μπορεί να διαβαστεί από τον καθένα κι έχει μια υπόθεση με τρομερό ενδιαφέρον.

Of the four Sherlock Holmes novels, this one is my favorite. Published in 1901, it tells the story of Sir Charles Baskerville, who is found dead at his country estate. Local legend tells of a fearsome, devilish hound that terrorizes people on the moor. Did Sir Charles die because of this diabolical hound?

Meanwhile, the Baskerville heir arrives in London and someone seems to be following him -- and stealing his boots! What the deuce is going on?

One of the fun aspects of this novel is that Sherlock claims he is too busy to go to the Baskerville estate, so he sends Watson to do some investigating for him. Of course, Sherlock manages to make a dramatic appearance at an opportune moment.

This novel is more enjoyable than the other three -- A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four and The Valley of Fear -- because the plot isn't as needlessly complex. The storyline is simpler and more elegant, and I appreciate that. Elementary, dear Watson!

In the sometimes cold, wet, windy region of southern England called Devonshire, where the land gradually disappears and the stormy sea can be seen, there was a legend of a demonic hound that haunted the Baskervilles family through the centuries, beginning in 1647. Hugo Baskervilles , a tough individual who got what he wanted; until if you are a believer in the supernatural, this vengeful animal mentioned before, came straight from hell, hunted down the vile man and shredding his throat, for a misdeed against an innocent woman, a neighbor. The Bible says for this kind of crime future generations must be punished and ever since the Baskervilles Hall inhabitants have suffered. Now at the dawn of the supposedly enlightened 20th, such nonsense is laughed at but some don't, certainly not the present master of the manor, Sir Charles Baskervilles, an old gentleman and he has heard disturbing sounds from the nearby moor, a swampy area, when the rains arrive and it does often. Horses, their loud pitiful cries in the night, soon stop, as they sink in the mire and are never to be seen again. This desolate place of hills, boulders, wet bogs that remain always that, weird vegetation growing there, a dangerous region, which fogs frequently cover , making it treacherous for man and beast in the darkness, an empty stone huts where primitive people thousands of years ago lived, but not since...This gigantic, glowing hound the locals have viewed, are afraid of and Sir Charles's heart , one chilly evening stops while taking a walk outside...why? Rumors of the creature hunting again, permeates the small village near Baskervilles Hall, and the doctor James Mortimer who had treated the poor victim goes to London for help. Nobody else but the famous Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson will do, only the best can solve this case, but evidence points to a simple, regrettable occurrence, an old man dying from a bad, weak heart. Peculiar incidents in the illustrious city happen to the great detective , Holmes and Watson are puzzled, then a mysterious message of warning against going to Devonshire... from a woman. The next of kin Sir Henry Baskervilles, a nephew has come a long distant from America to take over but Holmes says he's too busy in London, to assist in the investigation and sends Watson alone...this doesn't sound right. The ultimate Sherlock Holmes story I think, it grips the imagination and never lets the suspense end, the mystery flows along almost smoothly, to the very satisfying conclusion.