Dr Watson Jr Rediscovers The Mystery of The Century

I found this wonderful Sherlockian article published in the Daily Telegraph in 1939, reflecting back on The Hound of the Baskervilles and the enduring quality of Doyle's work.... concluding that HOUN is "The Mystery of the Century" - not bad given that it was published across 1901-02 and that the article was written a few months before the start of WW2. Enjoy!

The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW)  

Sat 3 Jun 1939 

Mr Montaigne's Bookshelf

Dr. Watson Jr. Rediscovers The Mystery Of The Century

"THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES," by Sir Arthur Cohan Doyle. (Reprint by Newnes). Dymock's. 

"DR. MORTIMER'S voice sank to a whisper as he answered, 'Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound.'"

I still rank that as the most dramatic, passage in mystery literature.

It is happily appropriate that the passage should occur in "The Hound of the Baskervilles," because I have been confirmed in my original view that this is the best of the Sherlock Holmes long stories on reading Newnes' cheap reprint of the classic this week.

Family curses are always a gratifyingly supernatural background for mystery, and this grim West Country legend of the giant hound that plucked the throats from all the Baskervllles who ventured on "the moor in those dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted," has enough horror and suspense for 10 family curses.

I myself incline to the view that in this case Holmes was rapidly approaching the zenith of his powers, and that that year (1889) marks a definite cycle in his immortal career.

In 1889, in addition to the Baskerville murder mystery, he cleared up "the little affair of the Vatican cameos" at the Pope's personal request, exposed "the atrocious conduct of Colonel Upwood in connection with the famous card scandal of the Nonpareil Club," and "defended the unfortunate Mme. Montpensier from the charge of murder which hung over her in connection with the 'death' of her stepdaughter, Mlle. Carere, the young lady who, as it will be remembered, was found six months later alive and married in New York."

Master's Portrait

Holmes himself tells Sir Henry Baskervllle, "I am not sure that, of the five hundred cases of capital importance which I have handled, there is one which cuts so deep as this one."

He also declares to Inspector Lestrade that the case is "the biggest thing for years," although his honesty compels him to recall "the analogous incidents in Grodno, Little Russia, in the year '66, and, of course, the Anderson murders in North Carolina."

The reverent student will also find in "The Hound of the Baskervilles" one of the finest full-length portraits of Holmes which Watson has given us.

There are these memorable human vignettes of The Master:

His asperity when Dr. Mortimer impiously hints that Bertillon is his superior. ("Then, sir, had you not better consult him?") 

His emotion when he discovers that the second victim of the hound is Selden, the escaped convict, and not Sir Henry. ("Holmes had uttered a cry and bent over the body. Now he was dancing and laughing and wringing my hand. Could this be my stern, self-contained, friend? These were hidden fires, indeed!")

His grim jesting when he has spread his net for the foul Stapleton. ("He burst into one of his rare fits of laughter as he turned away from the picture. I have not heard Holmes laugh often, and it has always boded ill for someone.")

His good-natured scorn for Watson's deductive powers.. ("I am afraid, my dear Watson, that most of your conclusions were erroneous.

When I said that you stimulated me, I meant, to be frank, that in noting your fallacies I was occasionally guided towards the truth.")

"The Hound of the Baskervilles" also contains some famous Sherlockiana:

"Eyes in the back of my head. Watson? I have at least a well-polished, silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me:"

"It would be a poor expert who could not give the date of a document within a decade or so. You may possibly have read my little monograph on the subject."

"I think we'll shut that window again, Watson. It is a singular thing, but I find that a concentrated atmosphere helps a concentration of thought."

"It is not what we know, but what we can prove."

"A study of family portraits is enough to convert a man to the doctrine of reincarnation."

"The detection of type in newspapers is one of the most elementary branches of knowledge for the expert in crime, although I confess that once, when I was very young, I confused the Leeds Mercury with the Western Morning News." . . .

Reproach To Moderns

The plot of "The Hound" still shows no signs of Anno Domini; the detection is honest and prodigal; and the action is swift and dramatic throughout, from the chase of the black-bearded shadower in his cab down Regent Street to the terrific apparition of the great hound in the fog on the moor.

The subsidiary figures are all skilfully and convincingly drawn— Barrymore, the mysterious butler, who signalled with a candle at the window; his wife, who sobbed in the night; Squire Frankland, the eternal, litigant; Mrs. Laura Lyons, who wrote the letter that lured Sir Charles to his tryst with the hound of death.

All in all, I insist, "The Hound of the Baskervllles"' remains the mystery of the century, a classic that is at once a reproach and an example to most modern mystery writers.

I am not ashamed to admit that my glass of cognac shook with honest emotion as I toasted the last sentence of The Master, as typically Holmesian as his faded dressing-gown and Persian slipper of tobacco:

"And now, my dear Watson, I have a box for 'Les Huguenots.' Have you heard the De Reszkes? Might I trouble you then to be ready in half an hour and we can stop at Marcini's for a little dinner on the way."

—DR. WATSON, JUN.