The Hound of the Baskervilles & The Valley of Fear

by Arthur Conan Doyle, David Stuart Davies (Afterword)

This volume contains two of the greatest Sherlock Holmes novels penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Hound of the Baskervilles is the classic detective chiller. The Baskerville family is haunted by a phantom beast which roams the mist-enshrouded wilds of Dartmoor. Now The Hound seems to be stalking the young Sir Henry, new heir to the Baskerville estate. Is this devilish spectre the manifestation of the family curse? Or is Sir Henry the victim of a vile and scheming murderer? Only Sherlock Holmes can solve the mystery. In The Valley of Fear a cipher message and a horrible murder begin this dark, powerful tale in which Sherlock Holmes faces his old arch enemy, Professor Moriarty once more. The solution to the riddle lies far away from the disturbed calm of a country house in Sussex, halfway across the world in a location known as The Valley of Fear.

Genres: Classics, Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Detective, Mystery Thriller, Literature

424 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1902

About the author

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.

Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.

Reviews

[Natalie Richards]

A great read, loved it.

[Jo Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, here I am, with 35 minutes to spare! I have met my 100 book challenge! I am sad to say that this book was not a good one in my opinion... The 1st part was moving along when the 2nd part happened upon me, and it was a flashback... It was full of what I considered to be unnecessary details. It was not at all like the other Doyle books that I have read!

OH, I forgot to say that my above review was about The Valley of Fear... NOT The Hound... The Hound was AMAZING!!

[Barzin · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The more outré and grotesque an incident is the more carefully it deserves to be examined, and the very point which appears to complicate a case is, when duly considered and scientifically handled, the one which is most likely to elucidate it.”
- The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Baskerville family is haunted by a phantom beast which roams the moors around the isolated Baskerville Hall on Dartmoor. Now the hound seems to be stalking young Sir Henry, the new master of the Baskerville estate. Is this devilish spectre the manifestation of the family curse? Or is Sir Henry the victim of a vile and scheming murderer?

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the first Sherlock Holmes book that I’ve read, and I should say that it was really fascinating. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Hound of the Baskervilles consistently and meticulously portrays the atmosphere and the characters of the story. This novel is a typical classic detective novel which masterfully blends evil motivations, horror, suspense, and mystery.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.5/5

[Xime García · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5



This two nouvelles were



But I didn't have much time to read so I was like



Y la serie regresa en 2017



Así que hay que matar el vicio leyendo al Sir.

[Sergio · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hound of the Baskervilles I opened first when I was a school kid, and it was in translation and, probably, an adaptation. Hence my memory of it was very poor and I read the original now as a tale new to me. A few things I guessed before the author (and Mr Holmes) related them but that did not spoil the pleasure. A great story indeed.
Of The Valley of Fear I never heard before. I like how it is told, in two parts: first what had happened, and then how and where all this originated and developed. There's adventure, tension, striking portraits and events presented at a thrilling and convincing pace, never a moralizing voice, and all that, after closing the book, makes you keep thinking of the man's destiny...

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

i want to give this 3.5 🤥🤥😔 i think i slightly preferred the valley of fear to hound of baskervilles only because i did not see that ending coming 😳😳😳😳😳💀 #nospoilers #cray but yeah overall neither were a pageturner, was just alright xx

[Dató · Rating 2 out of 5]

Էդիթ Պրինտի «Շերլոք Հոլսմ»-ի 5-րդ ժողովածուն էր, որտեղ ներառված էին Արթուր Քոնան Դոյլի երկու ստեղծագործություններ՝ «Բարսքերվիլների շունը» և «Սարսափի հովիտը»։ Առաջինի մասին արդեն կարծիքս գրել եմ այստեղ։

Ժողովածուի երկրորդ՝ «Սարսափի հովիտը» ստեղծագործությունը հենց նոր ավարտեցի։ Անկեղծ ասած վայրկյաններն էի հաշվում, թե երբ եմ վերջին էջը թերթելու։ Շատ տաղտուկ էր, ահռելի քանակի չորրորական կերպարներ կային, որոնք այնքան շատ էին խանգարում սյուժեին։ Մի խոսքով, Քոնան Դոյլից առաջին մեծ հիասթափությունս էր։

[Katheryn Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The problem with the Sherlock Holmes stories is that I can never remember which ones I've read, apart from those in the two short collections I own, and since I can't claim to be a fan of the famous detective without being entirely sure that I've read his most famous case, The Hound of the Baskervilles, I bought this wonderfully cheap copy. I'm still not sure if I'd read it before, but I am sure that I love Sherlock Holmes more than ever.

[pia ostrognai · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was extraordinary, so if you're wondering why the rating is only four stars, it's because it's so terrifying.

[Keith Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hound of the Baskervilles is the perfect Scooby Doo mystery. Scooby Doo plots start with a visit to a creepy secluded location. The gang finds that the locals are being terrified by a monster of some sort. After some ominous warnings that they should leave immediately, they have an encounter or two with the monster and then figure out that someone took advantage of a local legend in order to frighten everyone away so that they could claim some land or steal a fortune. That is precisely the plot of Hound of the Baskervilles. All that is missing is the villain saying "I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for that meddling Sherlock Holmes!"

The second half of this collected edition is the Valley of Fear, the fourth and last of Doyle's Holmes novels. Doyle uses the same structure he used in Study in Scarlet, in which the first half of the novel has Holmes solve a murder and then the second half reveals the killer's elaborate backstory. Again like Study in Scarlet the backstory is set in the United States. This one involves a corrupt secret society that engages in extortion and murder. I suspect Doyle used this structure in order to write novels about characters and situations other than those of his Sherlock Holmes series and the wrap them in a Sherlock envelope to satisfy his fans.

[Lina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had expected much more from this, but to no avail.

The Hound of the Baskervilles
This took me way too long to read. I started in late August, and didn't finish until early December. I'm blaming school, but I also find that the novel-length Sherlock Holmes stories can be quite boring. The story in itself was interesting, but it felt a bit dragged out. Honestly, I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was a bit shorter and a bit more fast paced says the girl who spent nearly four months reading the book

The Valley of Fear
Read only part one and the epilogue. From my experience with A Study in Scarlet & The Sign of the Four, narratives that aren't Watson's or Holmes's are extremely boring and dragged out. I don't care how much it explains the reasons behind whatever has been done, I just want to read about Holmes and Watson tbh.

[Maria Lago · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a classic on its own right; it's a fast thriller with a few red herrings, a touch of comic relief, and a very satisfying conclussion.
The Valley of Fear is similar in pace and tone, but I thought the second part was a bit long and quite anticlimatic, since the murder case was solved in the first half.
Well worth a read, nevertheless.

[Laila Semeda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the mysteries and enjoyed them so much at the beginning but at an early point I anticipated who would be the murderer or the crack of the case so I got a little bored reading them till the end.

[Suyog Garg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book.

Many consider these two books to be the best among the plethora of stories created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and quite rightly so. To begin with the first one, the epitome of, if not literary artistry then in the very least imaginative brilliance, it is Sherlock Holmes at his very best. We have, as was so aptly written in the afterword of this fabulous edition, all the prime elements of a Detective story and that too a Sherlockian Story in this novel. It is filled with mystic of the far away land, set in the stunning landscape of the Dartmoor Hills, the tinge of the supernatural makes it all the more captivating. Despite Sherlock Holmes been a bit absent from a substantial part of the story, Watson's impeccable narration makes us live the adventure with him. The presence of the black tall finger in the moors is certainly not what the weak in heart can live up to, and Dr. Watson proves what his role has become to represent. The ending, in particular, must have been one of the most suspenseful of the endings back when it first and indeed it continues to be one of the fantastic one. The mystery that shrouded the mythical hound up till now, demystifies into something what science can thoroughly explain, beckoning the reader to understand what Doyle and much of the masses were thinking at the turn of the century. Superstitions could and should be dealt with proper scientific analysis.

Coming to the second of the novel, 'The Valley of Fear', on the first gaze, its features appear similar to the first two of the Holmes novellas, however the content and the manner of book is profoundly different from any of the previous Holmes stories. The emotional energy of the book brims with such intensity and fervor as not seen anywhere else in the Holmes stories. Doyle has spun such a mesmerizing tale of tragedy, corruption, cunning, brutality and towards the end intellect, that the reader remains hooked up with reading from the front to the end. Holmes is at one of his very best performances during the solving towards the end of the first part. The second part takes up many years back into the states and narrates the story of the story, though the style is remarkably different from Doyle's earlier flashback.

So that's about all of it. All in all, the best of the best detective in the world. These are the books that made me love, so passionately, the character that is Holmes and the author Doyle. Hope they have the same effect on you as well. Highly recommended.

[Jockum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitivt den bästa av de längre berättelserna om mästerdetektiven Sherlock Holmes. Om det är min favorit av alla berättelser, långa som korta, är svårt att säga. Läste den för en evighet sedan, troligen på mellan- eller högstadiet. Det var mycket som flög ovanför mitt huvud då, nu känns det som att mer saker ploppar fram och skapar en djupare upplevelse.

Många av de längre romanerna har en inskjuten berättelse som dramatiserar förklaringen av fallet som lösts. Denna har inte det, vilket är ett plus i kanten. Jag läser berättelserna om Sherlock Holmes och Dr Watson, för att träffa just de två karaktärerna.

[katrīna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5
“It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull.”
Šajā grāmatā es īpaši novērtēja, ka stāstu stāsta doktors Vatsons, nevis galvenais varonis - Šerloks Holms, jo mēs redzējām vienkāršāku izskaidrojumu visam.
Grāmatai es dodu papildus punktus par to, ka tajā bija pieminētas vietas, kurās es paviesojos (tai skaitā Beikerstrītā 221b), kad es biju Šerloka un Vatsona pilsētā
Šie Šerloka Holmsa stāsti nezinu, kāpēc man nepaliek atmiņā. Tas droši vien nozīmē, ka es nebiju šausmīgi ieinteresēta stāsta notikumos.

[y_Dora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two of the best Holmes stories ever written... The Hound of the Baskervilles is an eerie adventure with a typical detective-story pace and structure; and a climax scene I WOULD NOT recommend reading at 2 a.m (from personal experience).
The Valley of Fear, on the other hand, has two parts- solving the case and then unfolding of its background. The second part might seem somewhat slow and dragged out in the beginning; especially since it's a direct jump from solving of the case- but trust me, the end is worth it all. I repeat, the last three pages of the book are worth it all.

[Lucas van der Kolk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het zijn 2 boeken in 1 dus ik rate ze apart.

The hound of the baskervilles: ☆☆☆☆☆
Fantastisch boek, het is het bekendste Sherlock verhaal voor een reden. De spooky sfeer werkt heel goed. Ik raad iedereen dit boek erg aan.

The valley of fear: ☆☆☆☆
Goed verhaal maar ik ben zelf geen fan van de opbouw. Dezelfde opbouw gebruikt de schrijver ook bij zijn eerdere novels. De helft van het boek gaat niet over Sherlock maar over de backstory van de moord. In het nawoord wordt verteld waarom de schrijver dat deed en het is zeker een goed punt. maar ik vind het niet heel lekker lezen als het halverwege het boek ineens naar een ander land gaat met andere karakters.

[Athina Demon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hound Of The Baskervilles was a solid 5 star read and truly made me fall in love with Doyle's writing and Sherlock Holmes!

The Valley Of Fear wasn't that good however, I think it's part of a bigger story and this was just an introduction to Moriarty (who we don't see at all) and his intellectual war against Holmes.

[Valentin · Rating 4 out of 5]

5* - The Hound of the Baskervilles
Remembers me of one of Agatha Christie's work that I read in the childhood.
4* - The Valley of Fear
Second part seemed to long. Holmes was like a secondary character here, somehow.

[Ale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitivamente mi libro favorito de Sherlock Holmes, es simplemente hilarante

[Julie Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Hound of the Baskervilles. The Valley of Fear not so much. I like the first part but the back story - meh.

[Jolanta Cērpa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lieliski!

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fucking superb you funky little detective

[Susan Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish whole book. Really only wanted The Hound of The Baskerville's but, after around the middle - especially the part where they are Watson's "notes/comments/letters to Holmes" I really lost interest in the book. The start was enjoyable, ending a bit tedious. Skipped through a lot of pages. Not bothering with second book in this.

I think, with me, and with "classic novels" that you may not have ever read but seen the films of them, you think "ah let's read this book" to only be disappointed in it. I got this book from a school sale (free actually!), they were redesigning their library, so some books were being given away.

[Katrien · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two great stories.

[Blairy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked those two stories a lot more than his short stories and it was really interesting to see how much Doyles writing did change from 1902 to 1915. Funnily enough his earlier writing (The Hound of the Baskervilles) was way more charming to me.

[rosie clapp ★ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hound of Baskervilles - this was so much fun, so well written, finished it in two days 4/5 stars
Valley of Fear - I really enjoyed this one so much, I knew nothing of the story so it was so unexpected. Loved it 5/5

[Anthe Beston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of pomp and a lot of red herrings. Loved the hounds. Valley of fear was a great twist.