THE FINAL EXAMINATION
Aware of the enormous popularity of Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels about Sherlock Holmes
and Doctor Watson in general, and The Hound of Baskervilles in particular, I find it
interesting to see if reading the novel after being introduced to the history of crime fiction
development will help me to answer the over-ambitious question What is the secret of its
reader success. Following the inductive method of Dupin, called detection by Sherlock
Holmes, this essay will investigate the clues to the success of the story and disclose the secret
of the reader fascination with the story by presenting convincing evidence.
The analysts of the art of letters have thoroughly studied the factors allowing to label a story
as crime fiction, and even if the parameters are not exact, spanning “from the detective story
to the crime novel1” to cover both the historical precursors and the recent developments of the
genre, “the mystery whodunit form […] will still constitute the heart of the crime genre for
many readers”2. And for most readers, the puzzle-solving stories of Arthur Conan Doyle are
the epitome of the genre, and the name of Sherlock Holmes is synonymous to the word
‘detective’.
The Sherlock Holmes series shaped the genre format, which led to the formulation of the
Golden Age Rules (the period between the two world wars), codified as Ten Commandments
(1929) by Ronald Knox, a British theologist and writer, the co-founder of The Detective Club.
A similar but more detailed list of Twenty rules for writing detective stories was at the same
time prepared by the American S.S. Van Dine3, the author of the anthology The World's Great
Detective Stories (1928). It is a common place that Doyle paved the way for the Golden Age
of detective fiction.
The Hound of Baskervilles, originally serialized in the Strand Magazine from August 1901 to
April 1902, 15 years after the publication of A Study in Scarlett, where Holmes first appeared,
begins with the usual formula. The opening chapter reminds the reader of the familiar traits
and canonical qualities of the beloved detective (“Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually
very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he stayed up all
1
The subtitle of Julian Symon’s Bloody Murder from 1972. Martin Priestman, CCCF, p.2. 3
Pseud.for Willard Huntington Wright. 2
1 night, was seated at the breakfast table”4), and his uncanny ability to decipher professional
and personal histories from clues of anatomy or personal belongings. Sherlock Holmes and
Dr. Watson discuss what can be deduced from a walking stick left behind by a visitor the
previous night. Watson exercises the deductive methods of his companion. It is then that
Holmes acknowledges his debt to his nearest admirer saying “It may be that you are not
yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius
have a remarkable power of stimulating it.”5 This is the most important function of a
detective’s friend (apart from being his chronicler) and it is well preserved in the detective
fiction of the Golden Age. For example, Poirot’s associate Hastings proves himself most
helpful to the Christie’s Belgian detective in his habit of asking questions containing the
answer. Similarly, Holmes “is guided towards the truth”6 noting Watson fallacies. As Knox’s
ninth commandment formalizes the role of Watson, “his intelligence must be slightly, but
very slightly, below that of average reader”7.
The returning visitor, Dr James Mortimer, is a professional brother of Watson, a phrenology
enthusiast and also an admirer of Holmes’s detective genius. He even hopes to get an
opportunity to study Holmes’s tricks and, understandably, his skull. Dr Mortimer tells about
the death of Sir Charles Baskerville, a generous donator to local charities, and puts forward all
the circumstances connected with it. The facts are simple, because Sir Charles Baskerville
was found dead of a heart attack, but, at the same time, complicated by a curse which plagued
the family of Baskervilles for centuries – “many of the family have been unhappy in their
deaths, which have been sudden, bloody, and mysterious”8. Dr Mortimer presents the origins
of this curse by means of an old manuscript telling the legend of the Hound of Baskervilles, a
giant diabolic hound with blazing eyes and dripping jaws.
As Dr Mortimer is a man of science, he has made careful observations about the dead body of
Sir Charles, which earns him Holmes’s appraisal – “Excellent! This is a colleague, Watson,
after our own heart”9. However, he admits to Holmes and Watson that he was not perfectly
frank with the police about his observations. Murder cannot be ruled out at this point, and as a
new heir Sir Henry Baskerville, the last in line, is arriving to take over the Baskerville
property, the need to prevent him from meeting the same evil fate as his uncle is urgent.
4
p. 1. P. .2. 6
P. 3. 7
The course handouts. 8
P. 13. 9
P.23. 5
2 Holmes finds the case being of extraordinary interest, but although Dr Mortimer begs him to
follow to Baskerville Hall, Holmes cannot go due to other cases. So Holmes sends Dr Watson
in his place, as a reporting observer and protector. This circumstance is a handy device both
on the plot and story level – this time Watson is not only a passive narrator who sends letters
to Holmes and keeps a diary to be used in the later publications on his friend’s methods of
detection, but he also becomes an investigator on the site, which, of course, makes the chain
of events in the story neither shorter nor duller. For the theorists and critics of literature,
“openly displaying the similarities between the detection and the reading processes”10, this
complex narrative must be of a special interest since Holmes makes his own investigation
behind the scenes.
The success of Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective stories is often assigned to the very special
character of Sherlock Holmes. He is the inheritor of many characteristics of his fictive
predecessors Lecoq, Dupin, with his power of observation, and non-fictive Vidocq, with his
record-keeping of crime and exceptional memory. He is the product of his own historical
period, preoccupied by the idea of finding the truth and the right method for the pursuit of the
objective reality. Consecutively, Sherlock Holmes is a first-class chemist, passionate for
definite and exact knowledge, “a practical man of affairs”11, not a sedentary problem-solver.
The character of Sherlock Holmes is often said to be sketchy12, but this is one of the
conventions of the genre – “no subtly worked-out analyses”13. I find that the sentimental and
affectionate Dr Watson serves both as a contrast and a complement to Holmes’s personal
description, which gives a sufficient character deliniation. In The Hound of the Baskervilles,
Holmes’s intellectual genius is presented as generally acknowledged and acclaimed. The
circle of admirers of Holmes’s method of deduction includes not only Dr Watson and Dr
Mortimer but the antagonist himself. Also, the typical genre representative of the dim-witted
police, Lestrade, is able to feel appreciation. As Watson observes "from the reverential way in
which Lestrade gazed at my companion that he had learned a good deal since the days when
they had first worked together”14. It is interesting to note that there is also some dialectics in
10
Marcus, Laura. CCCF, p.245. P. 8. 12
Hill, Reginald, Holmes: The Hamlet of crime fiction, p. 25. 13
S.S. Van Dine. Twenty rules for writing detective stories. 14
P. 159. 11
3 Holmes’s attitude to Lestrade, because he calls him the best of the professionals15 employed
by Scotland Yard and calls him in to Baskerville Hall for assistance in the final chase.
After mentioning some of the characters, a note on suspects seems appropriate. A confined
circle of suspects is one of the five prerequisites of the detective story, outlined by W.H.
Auden in his genre analysis, The Guilty Vicarage from 194816. (The other elements are the
milieu – preferably secluded, just like the Baskerville Hall; the victim – preferably a man of
extreme wealth and importance, just like Sir Charles; the murderer, and the detective.) The
circle of suspects in The Hound of Baskervilles is exceptionally broad because Sir Charles
Baskerville was a generous man, which reflected the long list of beneficiaries in his will.
As to the list of the traditional genre features in The Hound of Baskerville, we may add red
herrings and a proper denouement which ties all the loose ends. Although in one aspect,
related to the perpetrator and the denouement, the novel deviates from the standard detective –
there is no criminal assertion of the detective’s explanation presented in the final chapter.
What also may be seen as untypical for the traditional detective story is that the figure of the
detective is not in the foreground of this narrative, however his method still is. Thus even the
mentioned antagonist, who has a double identity, (naturally so, because it is the central trope
of the traditional crime fiction17), proves to be familiar with Holmes’s methods when he
outsmarts the detective on several occasions. By the way, speaking of his method, Holmes
tells that what seems to be guesswork is, in fact, “the scientific use of the imagination”18 on
material basis of clues. Speaking about the virtues of one of the greatest precursors of the
detective novel, The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, P. D. James points out that the most
interesting features of the detective story is its reflection of the contemporary social customs
and attitudes, “since clue-making is largely concerned with the minutiae of everyday life19”.
Indisputably, this applies to the detective fiction of Arthur Conan Doyle.
Doyle’s narrative method of inserting a long, detailed historical romance is said to be
borrowed from Emile Gaboriau20. The initiated reader may trace the traditions of gothic
thriller in this fair-play clue puzzle. In classically gothic style, the novel features mysterious
cries from the moor, foggy nights, an escaped prisoner, and signals by candlelight; a butler
15
P. 155. Lecture notes. 17
Wijkmark, Johan. The seminar lecture 2010-­‐07-­‐19. 18
P. 35. 19
James, P.D. Talking About Detective Fiction, p. 22. 20
Schütt, Sita. CCCF, p.63. 16
4 who knows more than he says, a beautiful woman with a mysterious past, a small boy who
carries messages, and someone who spies on the dark and isolated Baskerville Hall. Next, the
eponymous legend is derived from wild-dog legends of British folklore. The variation in the
narrative structure (as well as the wide range of suspects) may be inspired by The Moonstone.
Also, there are typical features of serial publications, noticeable in the composition of the
chapters, in which the disadvantage of required repetitiveness is balanced by the advantage of
thrilling cliff-hangers in the end.
Tracing concepts and methods to earlier writers will only help to place the novel on the
chronological line of literature. Telling about its impact on contemporaries and future
followers will emphasize its importance for the genre development. There are some
explanations regarding the contemporary popularity. For example, that “Sherlock Holmes
satisfied all the market requirements”21, which does not clarify the phenomenon of the present
day world-wide popularity of The Hound of Baskervilles. So what theory may shed light on
the fascinating phenomenon of its world-wide popularity?
Great theorists of detective fiction pointed to its role as “rational game”22. According to S.S.
Van Dine’s "Twenty rules for writing detective stories", "The detective story is a kind of
intellectual game. It is more – it is a sporting event”23. The ludic aspects in The Hound of
Baskervilles are pronounced in metaphors of chase, hunt and fishing, and such expressions as
“fixing a net” and “the final trap”. Also, there is a view that the function of the detective
narrative is to bring order into chaos, and the detective is “a champion of order in the face of
chaos”24. But this is not unique and does not make this particular novel outstanding, even if a
new murder is prevented and the future is secured. Perhaps, the claim that “myths exist on the
whole to confirm the possibility of order in the chaos of life”25 may shed light on the
mythological status of “the best detective in the world”.
Remember, that detective stories frequently operate on the principle that superficially
convincing evidence is ultimately irrelevant. Similarly, all the presented evidence explains
21
Hill, Reginald. Holmes: The Hamlet of crime fiction, p.35. Marcus, Laura, CCCF, p. 262. 23
S.S. Van Dine. Twenty rules for writing detective stories. The course handouts. 24
Wijkmark, Johan. Introductory Notes: Crime Fictin, p.6. 25
Hill, Reginald. Holmes: p. 33. 22
5 what makes this novel “what Aristotle really had desired”26 but still does not present any
definite resolution to the initial question.
But look here. According to Reginald Hill (the originator of Dalziel and Pascoe) the general
success of the Sherlock Holmes stories may owe to the sense of fact and, even more
importantly, to the sense of romance present in the images of “the fog, the dark, the dark, the
reek of London, the ambiguous glow of gaslight, the foreign faces, the opium dens27”. If this
is about the right balance of the rational and the mysterious, then, I believe, we have found the
missing clue to the reader success of The Hound of Baskerville. In this novel, Conan Doyle
introduces an inanimate but, nevertheless, living character, which breathe and odours
transcend the pages of the book - the Great Grimpen Mire, the hell-like home of the spectral
hound. A further examination of this thread by way of an innocent leisurely reading has
revealed that the impressionistic style in the description of the sinister moors counterweights
the rational style of the intellectual game of deduction. The imagery of the mire is
overpowering. Horror, suspense and thrill are palpable. But creating such an imaginary does
not belong to the traditional tropes of detective fiction! Quite the opposite, the laws of the
detective genre totally forbid “atmospheric” preoccupations28.
No doubt, this is the secret element which makes this novel the shiniest gem in the author’s
crown of fame - the mastery balance of logic and mystery After all, as Chandler said, “the
formula doesn’t matter, the thing that counts is what you do with the formula”29.
26
Dorothy L. Sayers, quoted in Martin Priestman, CCCF, p.1. Hill, Reginald. Holmes: The Hamlet of crime fiction, p. 25. 28
S.S. Van Dine. Twenty Rules, § 16. 29
Porter, Dennis, CCCF, p. 103. 27
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