Just finished The Hound of the Baskervilles by ACD — 248 pages. It was brilliant, obvs. Probably my favourite of the Sherlock Holmes stories/novels I’ve read so far. My annotated copy calls it “the only tale … in which the story dominates Holmes rather than Holmes dominating the story.” I wouldn’t say it’s the only one, but Holmes’ actual appearances are certainly limited, which gives the story more room to breathe. Watson does nearly all of the actual legwork, and we don’t see Holmes for a span of about a hundred pages. This means that when a new bit of evidence appears, Holmes isn’t around to immediately deduce and explain its significance, which allows the reader to make her own guesses. I mean, you can do this with the other SH stories too, but within a few pages Holmes will pop up and tell you you’re wrong. In Baskervilles he doesn’t do this, which is good for my ego and the plot, but also means that we don’t get to see that crazy Sherlockian brain at work as much. Oh well, though, Watson certainly deserved a break from all that.
As far as the story itself goes, IDEK what to tell you guys, just read it. There’s a Canadian! Also lots of hot Watson-on-moor action. The Devonshire kind of moor, not the Othello kind (unfortunately).
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