The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of four crime novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. It tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish physician and writer, best known for his Sherlock Holmes detective stories and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose works include science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.