The Book Wench

The mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville brings Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson to Dartmoor in the most famous of all of Arthur Conan Doyle’s books. Is Sir Charles the latest victim of the ancestral Curse of the Baskervilles, which summons a demonic hound to stalk the moor and exact vengeance for a past misdeed, or is there a more modern, more prosaic explanation for the sudden death? In The Hound of the Baskervilles, the modern, rational world, and the ancient, supernatural world collide in the novel which brought Sherlock Holmes back from the dead.

Growing up, I had always planned to read at least one Sherlock Holmes novel. I never thought it would be for school but here we are. I went into this novel with mixed expectations – part of me expected it to be stuffy and hard to parse through and part of me expected great adventure and fun á la the BBC Sherlock show with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. Only one part of me was correct, of course.

Thankfully, it was the part that expected great adventure. This was genuinely a rollicking good time. I was drawn in from the very first page where Sherlock’s deductive reasoning is showcased immediately and then held on as I rode out the rest of the tale. Being an internet kid growing up, I already knew the “who” answer of the book’s main whodunit question, but I was still drawn into the story as it unfolded (and I highly recommend the Derek Jacoby audiobook for this).

Doyle’s descriptions of setting was more than just a pleasant surprise – it made me want to jump into more Sherlock mysteries. I didn’t just picture the scenery – I felt it. The moor, Baskerville Hall, even the crowded streets of London – I felt like I was there in person, watching the events unfold before my eyes. Doyle really knew how to write description just as he knew to weave deduction and foreshadowing detail into his work.

The only thing that bothers me is that I wish we had gotten some of the evidence that Sherlock discovered during the main events of the story instead of at the end – but considering the book is from Dr. Watson’s point of view, I understand how and why we didn’t. Still, it would have been fun, had I not known the answer already, to try and figure out the whos and whats that way. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Sherlock and I sincerely look forward to spending some more time at 221B Baker Street.