Sherlock Holmes and the Detective-Story Formula: A Mini-Essay

   Originally published in monthly installments between 1901 and 1902 within The Strand Magazine, The Hound of the Baskervilles is one of Sherlock Holmes’ most famous cases.[1] The narrative is reminiscent of a Gothic tale, akin to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” in which the protagonist is summoned from the safe confines of civilized society to a backwards realm where fear, superstition, and the supernatural rule.[2] While there, Holmes encounters brooding servants, a tormented family heir, and whispered rumors of a spectral dog terrorizing the countryside. In fact, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based the deadly hound and the curse it brings to the Baskervilles on the legend of the yeth hound of North Devonshire.[3] As the events of the novel unfold, the famous sleuth deciphers the truth behind the paranormal occurrences and, in doing so, the story establishes a mystery framework which has become a mainstay in the genre, inspiring numerous imitations as well as a bevy of spoofs (Scooby-Doo, for example, relies heavily on the formula created in The Hound of the Baskervilles).

Works Referenced

Allies, Jabez. The British, Roman, and Saxon Antiquities and Folk-Lore of Worcestershire. 2nd ed. London: John Russell Smith, 1856.

Leggett, Paul. Terence Fisher: Horror, Myth and Religion. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 2002.

Pound, Reginald. The Strand Magazine, 1891-1950. London: A.S. Barnes and Company, 1966.
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[1] Pound, 74.
[2] Leggett, 77-101.
[3] Allies, 256.