The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Baskervilles die badly. Family legend blames a spectral hound that has haunted them since a wicked ancestor's crime, and when Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on his Dartmoor estate with a look of terror on his face (and the footprints of a gigantic hound nearby) the legend acquires an alarming freshness. Holmes takes the case but stays in London, dispatching Watson to the moor to guard the new heir among escaped convicts, secretive neighbors, and nights split by a sound no dog should make.

This is the most celebrated of all the Holmes novels for a reason: Conan Doyle balances the rational detective story against genuine Gothic dread and lets the fog hold both possibilities until the end. The moor itself (vast, ancient, mire-ridden) is the best character Doyle ever wrote that wasn't a person. Ideal listening after dark, with the volume up.

At roughly 64,700 words, The Hound of the Baskervilles runs about 7 hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

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