The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes #5)

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of the crime novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Dr. James Mortimer asks Sherlock Holmes for advice following the death of his friend, Sir Charles Baskerville. Sir Charles was found dead on the grounds of his Devonshire estate, Baskerville Hall. Mortimer now fears for Sir Charles's nephew and sole heir, Sir Henry Baskerville, who is the new master of Baskerville Hall. The death was attributed to a heart attack, but Mortimer is suspicious, because Sir Charles died with an expression of horror on his face, and Mortimer noticed "the footprints of a gigantic hound" about 50 yards from where Sir Charles lay dead. The Baskerville family has supposedly been under a curse since the era of the English Civil War when ancestor Hugo Baskerville allegedly offered his soul to the devil for help in abducting a woman and was reportedly killed by a giant spectral hound. Sir Charles believed in the curse and was apparently fleeing from something in fright when he died.The primary mystery involves the death of Sir Charles Baskerville at his estate in the beautiful countryside of Devon, but interestingly, the author also includes a number of mini-mysteries which I found engaging and helped keep my interest throughout. In fact, the story commenced with a mini-mystery involving the identity of the owner of a walking cane left in Holmes' office. Dr Watson produced a very sound analysis of what type of person the owner might be by observing such things as wear and tear and bite marks on the cane itself. However, after Watson's seemingly brilliant observations - Holmes then proceeded to critically tear apart Watson's assumptions and arguments, piece by piece, until the poor man's position was totally and irrevocably obliterated. This seems to be a bit of a theme - if I was Dr Watson, not sure I'd hang around with a bloke like Sherlock.Yet, despite this condescending treatment, Dr Watson seems to have almost a sycophantic relationship with Sherlock. It must be said though, Sherlock Holmes is a very impressive character. His lines of reasoning and modus operandi are always logical and altogether brilliant. To me, his powers of deduction always seemed to be sensible, he used very linear arguments and despite the red herrings lying about the place - he made complete sense.The narration by Dr Watson is a great tool used by the author to not only explain what was going on but to re-empathise parts of the narrative that may be a bit too complex (for my addled brain anyway), but he also used instruments such as Dr Watson's written reports to Holmes, to further cement the plot into the readers mind.