The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a Sherlock Holmes novel written by his creator, the British author and physician Arthur Conan Doyle, and published in 1902. The book presents the eerie tale of terrifying deaths at a country estate beset by a ferocious giant dog, and Holmes’s ingenious proof that the legend of a canine monster is merely a pretext for murder.

Arguably history’s most storied detective, Sherlock Holmes has been portrayed on film, TV, and stage more than any other fictional person. The Holmes character, now in the public domain, appears in thousands of works of fiction, but the original series of 56 stories and four novels by Conan Doyle are touchstones for fans. First published in 1901 as a serial in The Strand magazine, The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third and most famous, of the original novels. It has been adapted dozens of times into feature films and stage productions.

The 2017 AmazonClassics ebook edition forms the basis for this study guide.

Plot Summary

Sherlock Holmes and his best friend and assistant Dr. John Watson receive a tall, angular surgeon named James Mortimer who tells them a harrowing tale of a great hound that haunts the moors of Devonshire and sometimes kills the heirs of Baskerville Manor. The latest victim is Sir Charles Baskerville, who recently had heart trouble and was worried about family stories of the hound. One night, he is found dead on his estate’s pathway alongside the moor, his face locked in a rictus of terror.

Sir Charles’s nephew, Sir Henry Baskerville, arrives in London from Canada on his way to claim the estate. At his hotel, he receives a note warning him to stay away from Baskerville Hall; also, his boots begin to disappear, though one later reappears. Holmes discovers that Sir Henry is being followed. Watson and Holmes glimpse a bearded man in a carriage who hurries away, and they lose track of him.

Watson travels with Sir Henry and Dr. Mortimer to Baskerville Hall. The mansion is a gloomy place, and the surrounding moorland is equally eerie. Watson encounters Stapleton, a naturalist who lives in a house on the moor with his beautiful sister Beryl, who warns Watson that Sir Henry must leave at once or risk being killed.

Sir Henry meets Beryl and grows fond of her. They walk and talk, and he suggests marriage, but she rejects it. Stapleton interrupts them and, in a rage, accuses Sir Henry of bad intentions. Stapleton later apologizes.

Barrymore, the butler, has a stern wife who sobs late at night. Watson and Sir Henry catch Barrymore waving a candle at a window while an answering light glimmers on the moor. He is signaling to Selden, an escaped murderer who happens to be Mrs. Barrymore’s brother; the Barrymores are secretly sending him food. Sir Henry and Watson search for Selden, but he escapes them.

Barrymore convinces Sir Henry to give Selden time to leave the country. In gratitude, the butler tells of a letter to Sir Charles that Mrs. Barrymore found, partially burnt, in the late baronet’s fireplace. It is from a woman with the initials LL who told Sir Charles to meet her on the night he died. Watson learns that LL is Laura Lyons, daughter of Mr. Frankland, a litigious resident of a nearby village. Watson interviews Lyons and learns that she planned to beg Sir Charles for money to initiate a divorce against her estranged, cruel husband, but that same day another party paid the costs, and she didn’t go to her meeting with Sir Charles.

Watson notices another person standing on a moorland hilltop, and he hikes up to find out who it is. It is Holmes, who’s been keeping tabs on events from an ancient stone hut near the summit.

Holmes visits Baskerville Hall, where he recognizes, among the ancestral portraits on its walls, a strong resemblance between Hugo Baskerville, the first family member to be killed by a giant hound, and Stapleton. Having now solved the mystery, Holmes tells Sir Henry to accept Stapleton’s dinner invitation and then to return along a particular path so that Holmes can keep him safe.

After the dinner, as Sir Henry walks home, a huge dog with glowing eyes and muzzle attacks him, but Holmes shoots it before it can kill. The dog’s glow comes from phosphorus paint meant to give the animal a terrifying, unearthly appearance. Stapleton, revealed to be the dog’s owner, escapes into the moor but falls into a boggy mire and is never found.

Holmes learns that Stapleton is actually Rodger Baskerville, the son of Sir Charles’s criminal-minded brother. Rodger’s purpose was to remove all other claimants to the baronetcy and then take it for himself. Using a false promise of marriage and an offer of cash, Rodger tricked Laura Lyons into helping him lure Sir Charles outside, where the hound frightened him to death.

Beryl is Rodger’s wife, but he forced her to pose as his sister to lure Sir Henry to visit, which put the baronet on the moor where the huge dog might kill him. Holmes foils the plot, Sir Henry is saved, and the legend of the hound of the Baskervilles finally is laid to rest.