1902 Mystery, Named One of the Greatest Classic Novels Under 200 Pages, Can Be Read in One Sitting

If you’re in the mood to read a classic novel but don’t have the time to sit down with a lengthy book, there are plenty of short and sweet stories that you can read in a single day. Literary Hub recently compiled a list of “Great Classic Novels Under 200 Pages” that contain iconic stories like Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and Animal Farm by George Orwell.

One of the most beloved novels on the list is The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The creator of Sherlock Holmes wrote over 50 short stories and several novels about the detective throughout his career, but The Hound of the Baskervilles is arguably his most famous.

This story, which was originally serialized in The Strand Magazine from 1901 until 1902, has a 4.6 rating on Amazon with over 3,000 reviewers. The novel follows “an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound of supernatural origin.”

As one reviewer stated, “The twists and turns of the plot were clearly ahead of their time and seem to be something one might see on television today. Doyle does a fantastic job keeping readers interested until the very end.”

Related: 2009 Stephen King Novel Named One of His ‘Most Suspenseful’ Took Him 3 Decades To Write

This novel was adapted into a 2012 episode for the hit BBC series, Sherlock. The writer, Mark Gatiss, spoke about the adaptation with CultBox, explaining, “It’s the most famous story because it was written after Doyle had killed Sherlock Holmes off, then he wanted to write this ghostly story about a phantom hound and decided to do it as a past adventure. It was the biggest publishing phenomenon ever; it’s incredible, that’s why people know it so well. So we had to do it!”

Gatiss was referring to the fact that Doyle killed off Sherlock in the 1893 story, “The Final Problem,” since he was tired of writing about the detective. However, he eventually brought Sherlock back after public demand.

Gatiss continued, “It’s quite intimidating because it is so famous. In a funny kind of way, I felt there were several touchstones in the original book that I had to keep in a way that you wouldn’t with other stories. There are certain things with The Hound of the Baskervilles that you have to have, so I tried to keep them all in, not necessarily in the same order. One of the most fun things is that because it’s so famous and it’s been done so many times people think they know the story well. So at any stage where you can actually just flip it or surprise people, that was very fun.”