Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound of the Baskervilles

I can certainly see why this is the most read/adapted of Doyle's four novels.  The twists and revelations are exactly of the sort that make for good theater/television, and the spectre of the demon hound is custom made to capture the imagination.  It's a pity that it wasn't better written.

In other, less famous of the Holmes novels, Doyle errs in the other direction.  The narrative is sound, the characterization solid and the plot tidy.  It is only the relative lack of imagination in A Study in Scarlet , for example, that makes them less memorable.  To draw attention to one parallel in particular, Doyle's lengthy interluding narrative regarding the history of the Mormon enclave fits nicely into place, and is even a refreshing break from the narration of Watson.  Doyle attempts the same thing in The Hound, but the interludes feel forced, even convoluted.  The chapters that consist of diary entries are utterly unbelievable as such--they do not have the feel of diary entries, but retain the style of the rest of the novel--and the same is true for the chapters made up of letters to Holmes.  Another dissatisfactory element is the ending chapter.  Holmes' recounting feels forced, didactic even.  

But even barring these flaws, I continue to discount Doyle's work.  Imaginative, yes, but literate?  Hardly.  I have read nearly 3,000 annotated pages of his in the past two years, and am entertained, but not impressed.

BTD:25.  Right on schedule.