Monday, July 8, 2013

Tom's Two Cents : The Hound of the Baskervilles

An Old Fashioned Detective Novel


Earlier in my column I promised you some short reads.  They have their advantages of course, especially in this day and age of movies of less than two hours and TV sound bites.  In the old days (before the Internet television and film--can you even imagine?) detective stories had no forensics, car chases or explosives, they had to depend on the elements of horror and suspense and the sheer wit and intelligence of a human being--enter Sherlock Holmes and his somewhat stuffy colleague, Dr. Watson!

Created in 1887 by the British author Arthur Conan Doyle in the novel "A Study in Scarlet," Mr. Sherlock Holmes was a runaway success, so much so that 1893 in "The Final Problem" Doyle felt compelled to kill him off in order to go back to writing his historical romances, not even remembered today.  But in 1901 Holmes was brought back to life in what became Doyle's most famous work, "The Hound of the Baskervilles."

Set in the remote region of the Devonshire Moors, "Hound" is the story of a cursed family, the Baskervilles, stalked over generations by a predatory dog-like beast.  The current heir, Sir Henry, is in mortal danger, and Sherlock and his pal Dr. Watson have come to save him.  Mystery, suspense, danger and even a bit of romance move the story to a hair-raising conclusion!  No, it isn't like a modern cop/detective story, but therein lies the charm.  And it's short!  Give it a try.

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