9. The Hound of the Baskervilles
Arthur Conan Doyle served in South Africa during the Boer War, publishing a non-fiction account of his observations thereafter returning to London in 1900. For the next two years, he revised the work, based on reports from friends. Upon his return to London, he revisited Sherlock Holmes, creating a third novel, and setting it during a period before his character’s fatal encounter with Moriarty. The Strand Magazine jumped at the chance to return to the adventures of Holmes and Watson, publishing the work in serial form. Originally Doyle did not intend to include Holmes, producing instead a straight “Victorian Creeper” as he later wrote.
Though most of the action in the novel takes place far from London and Baker Street, Doyle introduced numerous aspects of the short stories. The Baker Street Irregulars travels about London, tobacco, music, and of course, his landlady Mrs. Hudson all appear early in the story, which shifts to Dartmoor for the main portion of the action. The novel was published in book form in 1902, and remains one of the most famous titles in the English language. Both the BBC (2019) and Le Monde (1999) list the book as one of their top 100 of all time. Its success led Doyle to reconsider the death of his character, and he explored the means of bringing Sherlock Holmes back to life.