Author: John Green (and Arthur Doyle!)
Publisher: Dover Publications
Rating: WORTHY!
DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review. The chance to read a new novel is reward aplenty!
Set on the moors of Devon in 1887, this is one of the most famous and loved Sherlock Holmes adventures. I read and enjoyed a previous graphic novel by this author (note that this isn't the John Green of The Fault in Our Stars whom I find obnoxious. This is a different, talented John Green), titled Dracula, and found it to be quite wonderful, unlike the original, so I was really glad to get a chance to review another by the same writer in the same classics series, and I wasn't disappointed. Note that he's also written a graphic version of Frankenstein.
This graphic novel cuts to the chase pretty quickly, with Holmes and Watson meeting with Sir Henry Baskerville, newly arrived to take over Baskerville Hall. He is the last surviving heir to this fortune and is concerned about a note he received warning him away from Devon moors. He's also, curiously, missing a shoe, stolen from his hotel room.
Having discovered that Sir Henry is being followed, Holmes claims to have prior business which he needs to take care of, and dispatches Watson to travel with Sir Henry and his close friend Doctor Mortimer, to Baskerville hall, to see what he can stir up in Holmes's absence. Watson's first discovery is that there's a wanted criminal, name of Selden, loose on the moor. His next is that Barrymore, the male servant in the house, is signaling to someone out on the more by means of a candle in the window. Selden is evidently his wife's brother.
Despite having been requested by Holmes to keep an eye on Sir Henry, Watson takes to strolling the moor alone each day for exercise. It’s on one of these trips that he meets with Stapleton, a local. Though they hear a loud moaning noise, Stapleton dismisses it as swamp gas! Watson is invited to the Stapleton home, and is warned off staying on the moor by Stapleton's sister, who initially mistakes Watson for Sir Henry.
When Sir Henry meets Miss Stapleton later, he decides that she's charming and attractive, but her brother seems to disapprove of this attraction between them. Selden is found dead on the moor, wearing clothes which Sir Henry had donated to him. Before he died, Selden passed on a tidbit of information regarding a burned letter, only a fragment of which remained, signed "L. L.". This is took to be Laura Lyons (Lana Lang and Lois Lane anyone?!), the daughter of a mean man named Frankland. Laura lives in Coombe Tracey and becomes the next person on Watson's list for a visit.
Watson soon meets up with Holmes, who has been living in the wilds on Devon moor conducting his own investigation in secret. based on the likeness of the portrait of Hugo Baskerville, in Baskerville Hall, Holmes deduces that Stapleton is actually in line for inheritance of the Baskerville wealth, but Sir Henry must die before it becomes his.
When Lestrade of the yard shows up, he, Holmes, and Watson lie in wait outside Merripit House, which is Stapleton's residence. They have arranged for Sir Henry to stroll across the moor, and when Stapleton unleashes his trained hound, it is shot before it can harm its target, who is now pretty much Sir Henry Basketcase.
I really liked this graphic novel and I recommend it. And while this has nothing to do with this novel or with this author, I have to mention that it reminded me of a Peter Cook - Dudley Moor comedy take on the story The Hound of the Baskervilles", which was hilarious!
