6 h 40 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 40 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
On the lonely moor, enormous paw prints turn a family legend into a threat to its next heir.
Sir Charles Baskerville is dead, and enormous dog footprints lie nearby. Dr. James Mortimer brings Sherlock Holmes an old account of a savage hound that pursues the Baskerville family. Holmes wants evidence, not a curse. But an anonymous warning tells the new heir, Sir Henry Baskerville, to stay away from the moor.
Dr. John Watson accompanies Sir Henry to Dartmoor, where darkness and treacherous ground make every lead harder to follow. Around Baskerville Hall, the servants’ private worries stir suspicion. Watson questions people and takes risks as the mystery holds two frightening possibilities in tension: an ancient evil, or a human enemy who knows how to use fear.
What you’ll discover
- A moor alive with menace Enter a landscape where distance, darkness, and dangerous ground give every warning fresh force.
- Watson takes the lead Follow Watson as he questions neighbours, pursues clues, and tests his own judgment.
- Reason against a curse Watch Holmes demand physical evidence when a terrifying family story seems to explain everything.
- Secrets behind familiar doors Meet Mr. and Mrs. Barrymore, whose private concerns make their behaviour difficult to read.
- An heir under threat Share Sir Henry’s determination to settle at home despite warnings that his life is in danger.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy fair puzzles, gloomy old houses, windswept moors, and a brilliant detective with his loyal companion. It suits anyone who likes a ghost story with one foot in reasoning.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A stick shows how Holmes reads the world
- An old curse meets a modern death
- Footprints and a question about a young heir
- Warnings, a lost boot and a cab in Regent Street
- Baskerville Hall greets its heir with sobbing
- The moor, the mire and two odd neighbours
- A candle in the window and a cry in the dark
- A burned letter and a hut among the stones
- Reason and fear pull against each other
- Doubles, masks and a story told in pieces
Who’s who
- Sherlock HolmesThe famous consulting detective, who reasons from small clues and wants to learn who threatens the Baskerville heir.
- Dr. John WatsonHolmes's friend and the narrator, sent to guard Sir Henry and report every fact from the moor.
- Sir Henry BaskervilleThe young heir from Canada, brave and warm-tempered, who is determined to live in his family home.
- Dr. James MortimerA country doctor and collector of skulls who brings the legend and the case to Baker Street.
- StapletonA cheerful naturalist at Merripit House who knows the moor and its mire better than anyone.
- Miss StapletonHis dark, striking wife, presented as his sister, who gives a warning and seems afraid to say more.
- BarrymoreThe Hall's black-bearded butler, who guards a secret and walks the corridor at night with a candle.
- Laura LyonsA typist at Coombe Tracey who wrote to Sir Charles on the day he died and will not explain.
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The Hound of the Baskervilles
by Arthur Conan Doyle · 1901
A baronet gets a pasted warning and a stolen boot before he ever sees the moor where a spectral hound waits.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
Would you walk across a lonely moor at night if a family legend said a monstrous hound hunts your bloodline there? Sir Henry Baskerville is about to find out.
The Hound of the Baskervilles at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 45 min3 h fast, 4 h 30 min slow
- Length
- 53,800 words15 chapters
- Pages
- 164 pages247 in large print
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1901by Arthur Conan Doyle
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A stick shows how Holmes reads the world
The story opens with a small game at breakfast. Watson picks up a walking stick left behind by a visitor the night before. A silver band carries the name James Mortimer, the letters C.C.H. and the date 1884. Holmes knows what Watson is doing, because he can see him in the polished coffee pot.
Watson builds a picture of an elderly, respected country doctor. Holmes takes the stick to the window with a lens. The letters point to Charing Cross hospital, he says, so the owner was a young house surgeon, friendly and absent-minded. The tooth marks on the wood tell him of a dog larger than a terrier and smaller than a mastiff.
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Also in the Sherlock Holmes Book Set: Four Classic Mysteries
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1901
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 20 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Hound of the Baskervilles. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hound-of-the-baskervilles.
Doyle, A. C. (2026). The hound of the Baskervilles. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hound-of-the-baskervilles (Original work published 1901)
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Hound of the Baskervilles. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hound-of-the-baskervilles.
@book{doyle2026hound,
author = {Doyle, Arthur Conan},
title = {The Hound of the Baskervilles},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hound-of-the-baskervilles},
note = {First published 1901}
}
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What is The Hound of the Baskervilles about?
It follows Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as they protect Sir Henry Baskerville, heir to a Devon estate. A family legend of a monstrous hound hangs over the moor, and a baronet has already died there in strange circumstances.
Is The Hound of the Baskervilles a true story?
No, it is fiction. Doyle wrote it as a Sherlock Holmes novel set on Dartmoor, and said in his dedication that it began with a West Country legend told to him by a friend.
Who is Stapleton in The Hound of the Baskervilles?
Stapleton is a naturalist at Merripit House who collects butterflies and knows the moor and its mire. He lives there with his dark, striking wife, posing as his sister, and befriends the Baskerville household soon after it arrives.
The author
Arthur Conan Doyle
1859–1930 · British detective novelist
Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician born in Edinburgh in 1859. He practised medicine in England and wrote novels, short stories and histories. His Sherlock Holmes stories began with A Study in Scarlet in 1887. He also wrote The Lost World in 1912. He died in Crowborough, England, in 1930.
More by Arthur Conan Doyle
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