Episode 26: The Hound of the Baskervilles

Calling all gumshoes! Get ready to hear how Sherlock Holmes cracks the case of a magical glow-in-the-dark dog who eats aristocrat failsons in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901/1902)! He ate Sir Charles Baskerville, and if Sherlock and Watson don’t help him, his boring nephew who can’t keep track of his shoes might be next!!!

We talk righteous supernatural canines, unsettling butterfly-net-wielding neighbors, sexy butlers, racist boneheads, and the greatest mystery of all: can Tristan pass the CIA entrance exam, or will Mayor Pete dash his high hopes?

We read and highly recommend the Broadview edition of The Hound of the Baskervilles, edited by Francis O'Gorman. We also suggest Penguin's The Complete Sherlock Holmes if you have already made it through CSI, CSI: Miami, and CSI: New York. But you can find out from any edition that the dog does not actually eat anyone.

For another cool read, get your luminescent paws on Arthur Conan Doyle's The History of Spiritualism (1902), a collection of essays on the movement, his favorite mediums, spirit photographs, Spiritualist experiments...and a full chapter on ectoplasm! For more ectoplasm and a look at Spiritualism in the U.S. check out Molly McGarry's brilliant book Ghosts of Futures Past (2008).

*Note to our listeners. Megan is on maternity leave. She’ll be back on the show in a couple weeks.

Find us on Twitter and Instagram @betterreadpod, and email us nice things at [email protected]. Find Tristan on Twitter @tjschweiger, Katie @katiekrywo, and Megan @tuslersaurus.