The Hound of the Baskervilles

Arthur Conan Doyle

"Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish be conceived than that dark form and savage face."

The coroner may have ruled death by natural causes, but Sherlock Holmes knows there's something more sinister behind Sir Charles Baskerville's demise. The question is, could he really have fallen victim to the legendary phantom hound, the curse said to have haunted his ancestors for generations? Or is this the work of a very real and calculating murderer?

One of Conan Doyle's most famous works, The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of the four Sherlock novels. Originally serialized in The Strand Magazine between 1901 and 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon and follows the story of the attempted murder that is initially blamed on a large, fearsome, folkloric hound that roams the moors. The novel marked Holmes' first appearance since his apparent death in 'The Final Problem', where the series was to have ended. However, reader demand prompted him to write this Holmes novel in 1901-2, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, is set before 'The Final Problem'. It has been described as one of the most famous stories ever written.