The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a detective novel by the British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 1902. It is the third of the four full-length Sherlock Holmes novels, and the action is set mostly on Dartmoor in Devon.

Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on his own land, and the family legend says that a monstrous hound has been killing Baskervilles for generations. Holmes takes the case, but he stays in London to work on it at a distance and sends Dr Watson to Dartmoor to watch over the last of the line, Sir Henry.

Watson reports on the house, the neighbours and the strange noises out on the moor, and Holmes arrives later to test his own reading of what is happening. The question the book keeps open is whether the death came from the legendary dog or from someone who needed the legend to be believed.

It has been adapted for film, television and radio many times. It is narrated largely by Watson, with Holmes present in some sections and working at a remove in others.