Book Review: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

Published: 1893

Read: Sep’21

Rating: 4/5

Review:

A legendary story from the Sherlock Holmes adventures and one which still lends itself to be adapted to modern situations and mysteries.

As is the case with all Sherlock mysteries , the reveal makes the reader feel how simple and elementary the solution was…if only….

A fun fact about this book though…Arthur Conan Doyle released this title after “killing off” Sherlock in his earlier book – The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. It is said that Sir Arthur was forced into publishing a Sherlock mystery in response to the severe backlash he had faced from all and sundry for killing the hero in the earlier book. However, this was supposed to be a one off book and he did not intend to bring Sherlock back to life ever since he felt he had was done with the adventures and primarily wanted to concentrate on his non fiction writing career.

Still, Hound of the Baskervilles is a Classic in the true sense

Book Review: Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Published: 1893

Read : Sep’2021

Rating : 3.5/5

Review:

I ‘read’ the Audible edition of this book narrated by Stephen Fry and it is an experience on its own.

This a collection of stories where each and every one , in traditional Arthur Conan Doyle’s (ACD) style, hits the mark.

The reason why this book is special is because of two reasons, the introduction of Moriarty and the author’s intentions behind naming the collection of stories as ‘Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes’.

Firstly, ACD introduces readers to the now famous opponent of Sherlock Holmes i.e. Dr. Moriarty in the story ‘The Final Solution’. However, contrary to the portrayal of Moriarty in the various TV/Film adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, the characterization in the book does not do justice to the villain. ACD only talks about the ‘Who’ but leaves the reader searching for the How, What & When about the ‘cat and mouse’ relationship between Sherlock and Moriarty. Hats off to the various directors who have brought out the sinister nature and formidability of Moriarty through their films and series over the years where the author has clearly left a wide room for interpretation. The reason why (I think) ACD did not build up the character of Moriarty lies in his underlying intentions of naming the book as ‘The Memoirs….’

In the epilogue to this book , Stephen Fry narrates the reason behind the title. It is believed that ACD wanted to kill off Sherlock as he felt he was done with the sleuth and had nothing left to add to his mysteries and intrigue. More importantly, ACD wanted to concentrate on his non fiction writing career and hence felt the need to finish off Sherlock. This also explains the reason for hastily introducing Moriarty as the villain in the final story of the book. Knowing this background , it kind off sheds light on the question of why ACD gave such a sketchy portrayal of Moriarty to the readers, so that there is no further demand/pressure from the Sherlock fanatic for more Moriarty specific adventures.

All in all, the other stories are worthy Sherlock adventures but ACD really lets us down on Moriarty, which was a big surprise for me…