Week #43 – The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

Last year on Mondays we had fun with books. This year, we'll look at most of the same books but also some new ones, and see if the first line [or first paragraph] met the goal of a first line which is ==> to hook the reader's attention.

Here are some tips on writing a first line

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/tips-for-writing-the-opening-line-of-your-novel

Week #43 –   The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hound_of_the_Baskervilles

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2852/2852-h/2852-h.htm

First published:  March 25, 1902

Here's what the story is about: In London, Dr James Mortimer asks for the aid of Sherlock Holmes. He recounts the legend of a curse that has run in the Baskerville family since the time of the English Civil War, when Sir Hugo Baskerville kidnapped a farmer's daughter. When the girl escaped, Hugo made a deal with the devil and pursued her. Hugo's companions found the girl dead of fear and Hugo killed by a demonic hound, which has haunted Dartmoor ever since, causing the premature death of many Baskerville heirs. 

First line/paragraph:

Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a “Penang lawyer.” Just under the head was a broad silver band nearly an inch across. “To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H.,” was engraved upon it, with the date “1884.” It was just such a stick as the old-fashioned family practitioner used to carry—dignified, solid, and reassuring. 

“Well, Watson, what do you make of it?” 

Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him no sign of my occupation.

This story starts in first person POV, with the narrator introduced as “Watson”. The setting is Holmes sitting at the breakfast table, which is unusual because he's usually a late riser,  with Watson standing on a hearth rug and inspecting a walking stick left by a visitor. The story starts in media res. Holmes asks Watson what he can learn by examining the walking stick, which introduces that this most likely is a detective story. I'm a fan of detective stories and this presents a puzzle in the first paragraph. What does Watson [and Holmes] learn simply by examining a walking stick? I'm sufficiently curious to read the first chapter.

Does this first line/paragraph hook your attention? If you had never heard of this story, would you buy this book in 2024? Knowing the story, would you change the first line? Tell us in the comments!