The Baskerville Pups discussion

Welcome to this month's book read!

SIGN is the second book Sir Doyle wrote in the Canon. Grab yourself a copy, or head to our Places to Read the Canon discussion.

You can discuss anything related to this book here. Drop you favorite passages so we can read along.
Remember to be kind to fellow members, and to follow the guidelines. If you have any suggestions for a STUD topic, send it to our Suggestions and Recommendations.

The the is one of the most irritating the's I ever came across. My tongue twists just by looking at it. And do excuse my cluelessness, but were the states publishing Doyle's work faster than Britain? And who was the wise guy that thought that "the" was necessary? LOL!

I think that SIGN may be the best of the 4 Holmes novels. Both STUD and VALL have half a story and then the second half is the American "prequel" to the crime, and in HOUN, Sherlock Holmes is out of the picture for a lot of the book, but SIGN is told in a single narrative.

Ah yes! I remember Mr Stephen Fry talking about when Doyle met Wilde! I love this origins story.

I dread reading VALL! However, I liked the change of perspective in STUD; I'm also a sucker for being in favor of the first story in any series. HOUN would always be a favorite because it's one of the first Holmes' book I've ever read (can't give 3STU much credit). IMO SIGN is great because of the flow of events, from Mary's visit, their meeting with Thaddeus, Pondicherry Lodge, the boat chase [°_°], and all those fun stuff which I can't remember (BRB, going to review SIGN hahaha).

There really was no relationship or mutual influence between Doyle and Wilde. They met briefly after A Study in Scarlet was published because the Philadelphia editor of a magazine, J. M. Stoddart, took them both to dinner and wanted both writers to write some short novels for his magazine. Doyle offered Stoddard his second Holmes novel, which was The Sign of Four and Wilde's offering would be Dorian Gray.
Wilde and Doyle were leading vastly different lives in this period and really had no connection, certainly no friendship, though some writers went on to bring the two together in fictional works.
Doyle was known to take a personal interest in the acquittal of two people, George Edjali and Oscar Slater , but not really in Oscar Wilde's trials.

Nay, I hardly think they'd have a mutual relationship. \_(ツ)_/

Chapter One starts the story up so well! I just watched SIGN with JB for the first time, and I was looking forward to seeing this in the beginning.

Am I wrong to say that Inspector Jones is first mentioned in chapter one? I can't remember if there was mention of him in STUD. This, Indian lunkah, and Trichinopoly gives me a sense of foreshadowing, IMO.

I think Athelney Jones only appears in SIGN. There is another police detective named Jones in REDH, but I don't think it's Athelney.

Barbara wrote: "I think Athelney Jones only appears in SIGN. There is another police detective named Jones in REDH, but I don't think it's Athelney."

Ah, yes, I think I recall that.

Margie wrote: "So I wrote a long post here about Chapter II and when I hit post, 'something went wrong' per GoodReads and all the work was lost. *GRRR* I will rewrite it later when I have a few minutes."
Oh gosh I hate that; due to my phobia of that exact incident, I try to have a copy in a document or somewhere. So sorry.

I'd have to run over Chapter II once more before I could give a deeper response, but you are absolutely right Ms Margie. I don't see the need to romanticize what the poor fellow meant ^^

Maybe some sort of indirect approach? That is... weird. Or could she be thinking that the "assistant" doesn't have any decision making power here?

Mary: "But would he come?"
Holmes: "I don't know! Ask him." *points to an invisible Watson*
XD

Poor Watson! He underestimated himself. I really felt for him here.

Tut! Goodreads shut down in the middle of my typing.

Eegad! Yes, an awkward phrase for us now. Stereotypical ideals I suppose. :(

And yes, how convenient— perfect timing for a grizzly face to appear. Dramatic death, Sholto went out with a bang XD

One should memorize their neighboring locations like Holmes! Is there a map that we can follow? ;D

“Wordsworth Road,” said my companion. “Priory Road. Lark Hall Lane. Stockwell Place. Robert Street. Cold Harbor Lane. Our quest does not appear to take us to very fashionable regions.”

Blimey! I could barely remember the streets in my small neighborhood, much more a metropolis, ha!
Wasn't that the case with a Study in Pink, with the taxi driver?

One of the most interesting things to me in the story. (as a long time dog owner) is the dog Toby. Toby is described as a "part Spaniel, part Lurcher". When I first read the story ages ago, I didn't know what a "Lurcher" was, but found out its a cross breed between a scent hound (which most dogs are) and a sight hound (dogs like Greyhounds, Afghans, Whippets). So if you crossed a spaniel with a greyhound, you'd have one type of Lurcher.
I think the dog used in the Granada episode was a Border collie mix.

Those Lurchers are some big dogs. Close resemblence to the Irish Wolfhound or Scottish Deerhound. It would've been funny to see Holmes and Watson running with a dog like that in the Granada show. Their Toby was small and reasonable to handle ;)
I too love a Border Collie! They have nice coats and it looks like they have a sweet personality.

There were two TV movie adaptations of SIGN in the 80s, the Jeremy Brett version and an earlier version with Ian Richardson playing Holmes. There was an interesting departure in that one - after Small tells his story, Holmes discovers that the treasure wasn't thrown into the Thames but that Small hid it in his wooden leg.
A pretty melodramatic version with some digressions, but entertaining.