The Hound of the Baskervilles is my introduction to the work of Arthur Conan Doyle. Am I the only person who hasn't read even a short story by him prior to starting this book? A few things I have learned about Arthur Conan Doyle: he was actually a doctor before settling down to writing professionally. It was one of his professors in medical school who was the inspiration for the famous analytical reasoning that Sherlock Homes is known for. Conan Doyle was quite the sportsman and had all sorts of adventures (including working on a whaling boat) before he married. By the time he got around to writing The Hound of the Baskervilles, Conan Doyle had already become quite famous with the publication of many short stories faturing Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson. As a matter of fact he felt that Holmes took him away from his serious writing and quite happily killed him off. In the introduction I thought it highly amusing when it was mentioned "that Conan Doyle had been physically attacked by a handbag-wielding lady" after the demise of Holmes. I suppose if this is not the sort of writing you set out to do, yet it is this exact writing which makes you world famous you are bound to have a certain animosity for the characters! In the end he didn't too bad after all. He was quite the prolific writer publishing science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry as well as nonfiction in addition to the many Holmes stories he published.
You can read more about The Hound of the Baskervilles here. But I am saving it for later myself as it has plot spoilers, and I hate knowing too much going into a new story! I thought it interesting that it has been filmed at least 18 times. I am sure at one time or another I have seen one of these versions, but I don't remember enough to know what is going to happen. This is the first of my summer reading challenge books. I thought this was a good place to start as, according to Wiki "the Holmes stories are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction." Although I didn't see this adaptation, I know that Rupert Everett has played Holmes, and I suspect that is who I will be envisioning in my mind as the famous detective.