The Hound of the Baskervilles is a thrilling tale, which brings Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr. Watson back for another detective mystery novel. After I read this book I felt that I should read other Doyle, because Holmes keen sense of logic appeals to me.
The story begins with Holmes and Watson trying to find out who left a cane in their office. Holmes easily deduces that it is James Mortimer. Mortimer reads the legend of the Hound of the Baskervilles, and how it relates to Hugo Baskerville’s death. A supernatural hound killed him at his estate in Devonshire. Holmes refuses to go to Devonshire with Watson to help him solve the case as he has other matters to attend to in London. Holmes tells Watson to report back with his findings, but later the reader finds out that Holmes secretly travels to Devonshire to try to solve the mystery without the suspects knowing that he is there.
Jack Stapleton is the heir to the Baskerville fortune, who Holmes then labels as the prime suspect. The reader is led on in that the escaped con, who is related to the caretakers at the Baskerville Mansion, is the killer, a veritable red herring. It turns out that Stapleton is painting a large, starving, dog with special glow in the dark cream in order to make it look demonic or ghostly. Charles Baskerville had a heart attack upon seeing it (which we find out about earlier in the novel). Holmes figures out the mystery and uses Henry Baskerville, or the Baskerville next on Stapleton’s list, in order to lure out the dog. The dog is shot and the case is finished.
I especially like these kinds of novels because you really never know “whodunit” until the end of the book. Doyle paints Sherlock Holmes and Watson like real characters in the latter part of the 1800’s, also giving the book a vivid feel. Doyle’s writing style can be confusing at times due to old English here and there, but the book really does it for me because of Holmes’ mystery solving skills.
No comments:
Post a Comment