The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, first serialized in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902. It tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound of supernatural origin, and is widely regarded as the finest of the four Sherlock Holmes novels.

When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on the grounds of his Dartmoor estate, his friend Dr. James Mortimer seeks the help of Sherlock Holmes, fearing that the ancient curse of the Baskervilles — a spectral hound said to haunt the family — may be at work. Holmes dispatches Dr. Watson to Baskerville Hall to protect the young heir Sir Henry, and Watson finds himself immersed in a landscape of fog-shrouded moors, suspicious neighbors, and an escaped convict lurking on the heath. The mystery deepens as Holmes works behind the scenes to untangle a web of greed, deception, and terror.

Atmospheric, masterfully plotted, and rich with Gothic menace, The Hound of the Baskervilles stands as one of the great works of detective fiction and remains the most celebrated adventure of literature’s most famous consulting detective.