TheHound of the Baskervilles

With an introduction by Ruth RendellThe Vintage Classics edition is the only edition to also include 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band' which is Arthur Conan Doyle's favourite Holmes story.The Hound of the Baskervilles is Tony Blair's favourite crime novel'Sherlock Holmes is the very foundation stone of the edifice that is crime fiction' The Times'A Victorian whodunnit of brooding power' GuardianSir Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and began to write stories while he was a student.Over his life he produced more than thirty books, 150 short stories, poems, plays and essays across a wide range of genres.His most famous creation is the detective Sherlock Holmes, who he introduced in his first novel A Study in Scarlet (1887). This was followed in 1889 by an historical novel, Micah Clarke. In 1893 Conan Doyle published 'The Final Problem' in which he killed off his famous detective so that he could turn his attention more towards historical fiction. However Holmes was so popular that Conan Doyle eventually relented and published The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1901. The events of the The Hound of the Baskervilles are set before those of 'The Final Problem' but in 1903 new Sherlock Holmes stories began to appear that revealed that the detective had not died after all. He was finally retired in 1927. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died on 7 July 1930.

Sherlock Holmes stars in Doyle’s most famous detective story.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY RUTH RENDELL

INCLUDES 'THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND'

The Baskerville family curse tells of how a terrifying, supernatural hound roams the moors around Baskerville Hall and preys on members of the family in revenge for a ghastly crime committed by one of their ancestors. When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead in the grounds, with a large animal footprint near his lifeless body, the locals are convinced that the hound is back. It is up to Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson to uncover the truth and keep the new heir to the hall safe from danger.

**One of the BBC’s 100 Novels that Shaped Our World**

Arthur Conan Doyle is unique in simultaneously bringing the curtain down on an era and raising one on another, ushering in a genre of writing that, while imitated and expanded, has never been surpassedI first encountered him through an eccentric maths teacher who would read 'The Speckled Band' and other Conan Doyle adventures to us instead of teaching fractions. He also used to balance chairs on his chin, but that's another story. I'm still fond of Holmes to this day, especially now that I can see him as the crazed, controlling junkie that he clearly wasConan Doyle triumphed and triumphed deservedly, because he took his art seriously, because he lavished a hundred little touches of real knowledge and genuine picturesqueness on the police noveletteA wonderful Sherlock Holmes story from its sparkling first pages, through its vivid painting of darkest Dartmoor, its undertones of fear of the mind's depths, and on to the triumph of the rational