Synopsis: 1894. The monstrous Hound of the Baskervilles has been dead for five years, along with its no less monstrous owner, the naturalist Jack Stapleton. Sir Henry Baskerville is living contentedly at Baskerville Hall with his new wife Audrey and their three-year-old son Harry.
Until, that is, Audrey’s lifeless body is found on the moors, drained of blood. It would appear some fiendish creature is once more at large on Dartmoor and has, like its predecessor, targeted the unfortunate Baskerville family.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are summoned to Sir Henry’s aid, and our heroes must face a marauding beast that is the very stuff of nightmares. It seems that Stapleton may not have perished in the Great Grimpen Mire after all, as Holmes believed, and is hell-bent on revenge…
This very Conan Doyle-like story of Holmes follows on from his return after Holmes' supposed death at Reichenbach Falls (The Final Problem) and five years after the events of "The Hound of the Baskervilles".
Lovegrove plots and paces his story in a manner that you might be forgiven for thinking this was a lost Conan Doyle manuscript. His take on Holmes and Watson is uncannily like the originals - and old characters from "The Hound" resurface.
The story is narrated by Watson of course - though Holmes himself does recount events which he classifies as "... a web of murder and deceit ...riddled with misgiving ..." when he sallied forth to Dartmoor in the company of one Corporal Grier to discover just what new beast was terrorising the Baskervilles. Just when you think all is solved, we the reader find ourselves only halfway there.
Definitely one for fans of Holmes and Watson - hope there are more tales on the horizon!
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