The Hound of the Baskervilles
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50 free The Hound of the Baskervilles trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is the Sherlock Holmes story almost everyone half-remembers: a family curse, a lonely moor, a monstrous dog and a killer hiding in plain sight. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote it after years of refusing to touch his detective, and it remains the most famous of the Holmes novels. This quiz covers the whole case: the legend that opens it, the heir and his neighbours, the clues Holmes reads in London, Watson's reports from the hall and the night it all ends. There are also questions on how the book came to be written, the real places and folklore behind it, and the film and television versions. It suits readers who have just finished the novel, students revising it for class, and Holmes fans who want to see how much of the detail has stuck. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What does the killer smear on his dog to make it glow like a demon in The Hound of the Baskervilles?
Phosphorus
Phosphorus, in a cunning preparation with no smell to spoil the dog's scent, gave it flaming jaws and fire-ringed eyes. Watson's own fingers gleam after he touches the dead animal's muzzle.
Q 02What is stolen twice from Sir Henry Baskerville at his London hotel before he ever sees the moor?
A boot
A boot goes missing twice: first a new brown one, useless because it had never been worn, then an old black one. The thief needed Sir Henry's scent to set a real dog on his trail.
Q 03Beryl, introduced as a naturalist's sister in The Hound of the Baskervilles, is really what to him?
His wife
His wife is what Beryl turns out to be, bullied into playing the sister so that her husband could dangle her as bait for Sir Henry. She still tries to warn the heir away with an anonymous letter.
Q 04Sherlock's episode The Hounds of Baskerville swaps the gothic family hall for what kind of place?
A military research base
A military research base, modelled on the real Porton Down, replaces the hall, and a haunted young man named Henry Knight stands in for the heir.
Q 05At which Swiss landmark did Doyle kill off Holmes, eight years before The Hound of the Baskervilles?
Reichenbach Falls
Reichenbach Falls was where Holmes and Moriarty went over the edge in 1893. The new novel dodged the problem by being set earlier, and its success pushed Doyle to bring the detective back for good.
Q 06Which secret relative of the victims is unmasked as the killer in The Hound of the Baskervilles?
Jack Stapleton
Jack Stapleton is really the son of Sir Charles's black-sheep brother Rodger, and he wants the estate. Holmes ranks him among the most cunning adversaries he has ever faced.
Q 07Sir Henry Baskerville arrives in London to claim his inheritance after farming in which country?
Canada
Canada is where the trustees traced the young heir after Sir Charles died. Sir Henry admits he knows little of British life, having spent most of his life there and in the United States.
Q 08In which English county is Baskerville Hall, on the moorland Doyle explored for his story?
Devon
Devon is home to Dartmoor, where Doyle explored the tors and bogs in June 1901 with a journalist friend who knew the local legends. The hall itself is invented, though several real houses claim to be its model.
Q 09Which honour came to Conan Doyle in the year The Hound of the Baskervilles appeared in book form?
A knighthood
A knighthood came in King Edward VII's Coronation Honours, though not for the detective. Doyle believed it rewarded his pamphlet defending Britain's conduct in the Boer War.
Q 10Which actor first played Holmes in 1939's The Hound of the Baskervilles, with Nigel Bruce as Watson?
Basil Rathbone
Basil Rathbone made his debut as the detective here, and the pairing clicked. He and Bruce went on to make fourteen Holmes films together between 1939 and 1946.
Q 11Which deadly bog near Baskerville Hall, reputedly modelled on a swamp by Fox Tor, claims the villain?
Grimpen Mire
Grimpen Mire is where the killer vanishes in the dark, presumed drowned while racing for his island hideout. Earlier, Watson watches it suck down a moor pony.
Q 12Which forgotten item lets Holmes size up Dr. Mortimer before they meet over the Baskerville case?
A walking stick
A walking stick engraved by friends lets Holmes deduce a young country doctor who owns a dog. Watson tries the same trick first, and Holmes tells him most of his conclusions were wrong.
Q 13Which hobby lets the villain of The Hound of the Baskervilles roam the moor at all hours?
Collecting butterflies
Q 21Which Hammer horror star played Holmes in 1959's Hound of the Baskervilles, the first in colour?
Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing led Hammer's gothic take with André Morell as Watson, his first of several turns as the detective. Nine years later he filmed the story again as a two-part BBC television episode.
Q 22Which former Doctor Who star played Holmes in the BBC's 1982 Hound of the Baskervilles?
Tom Baker
Tom Baker reunited with producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks, the team behind his first Doctor Who story. His Doctor had already dressed as the detective in a 1977 adventure.
Q 23In which country did Sir Charles Baskerville make the fortune that let him restore Baskerville Hall?
South Africa
Collecting butterflies, net in hand, lets him wander anywhere unquestioned, and he really is an expert. A moth he first described in Yorkshire still carries the alias he was using back then.
Q 14What weather nearly wrecks Holmes's ambush on the final night of The Hound of the Baskervilles?
Thick fog
Thick fog drifts off the bog toward the path Sir Henry must walk, forcing the watchers to retreat. The dog bursts out of the white wall so suddenly that they freeze and let it pass.
Q 15In the Baskerville legend, whom does wicked Sir Hugo kidnap, bringing the hound's curse on his heirs?
A farmer's daughter
A farmer's daughter climbs down the ivy to escape while Hugo drinks with his friends, and he rides after her with his pack. His companions find a great black beast tearing out his throat.
Q 16Which London monthly serialised The Hound of the Baskervilles, with readers queuing for each part?
The Strand Magazine
The Strand Magazine ran the story in nine monthly parts and saw its sales reach their peak. A decade earlier the same monthly had made Holmes a household name with the short stories.
Q 17The 'Baskerville effect', named after Doyle's novel, is a claimed rise in fatal what on unlucky days?
Heart attacks
Heart attacks are the claimed cause, echoing Sir Charles, who dies of fright at the sight of the dog. Researchers reported more cardiac deaths among Chinese and Japanese Americans on the fourth of each month.
Q 18In the Baskerville case, where on the moor does Holmes hide while Watson believes him busy in London?
An old stone hut
An old stone hut, left behind by the moor's prehistoric people, gives Holmes a hidden lair while a boy from London fetches his food and clean linen. Watson tracks the stranger there with his revolver ready.
Q 19What draws the hound onto an escaped convict instead of Sir Henry in The Hound of the Baskervilles?
Hand-me-down clothes
Hand-me-down clothes from Sir Henry's wardrobe, passed on by the butler to help the fugitive get away, carry the wrong man's scent. Fleeing the dog, the convict plunges to his death among the rocks.
Q 20What does the Baskerville Hall butler hold to a window at night, arousing Watson's suspicion?
A candle
A candle at the glass is a signal: an answering light out on the moor marks where food should be left for a man in hiding. Sir Henry and Watson sit up two nights running to catch him at it.
South Africa made Sir Charles rich through speculation in gold, and he cashed out before his luck could turn. He had lived at the hall for only two years when he died.
Q 24What at Baskerville Hall shows Holmes that the killer is himself a Baskerville by blood?
An ancestor's portrait
An ancestor's portrait of wicked Sir Hugo gives it away: when Holmes covers the hat and ringlets, the face is the killer's own. Holmes calls the likeness a throwback, both physical and spiritual.
Q 25From which newspaper were the words cut to make the anonymous warning sent to Sir Henry Baskerville?
The Times
The Times was unmistakable to Holmes, who knew the typeface of its leading articles at a glance. Only one word of the message was handwritten, because the sender could not find it in print.
Q 26Which member of the Baskerville Hall staff is secretly the sister of the convict hiding on the moor?
The housekeeper
The housekeeper, Eliza Barrymore, cannot abandon the younger brother her family spoiled as a boy, whatever his crimes. She and her husband smuggle him food and plan to put him on a ship out of England.
Q 27Which rooftop possession of old Frankland helps Watson find a hidden stranger near Baskerville Hall?
A telescope
A telescope, kept for amateur astronomy, lets the old busybody spot a boy carrying food across the moor each day. He assumes the meals are for the convict, but they are really for Holmes.
Q 28Which Scotland Yard inspector does Holmes summon to Dartmoor for the final Baskerville ambush?
Lestrade
Lestrade arrives on the London express with an unsigned warrant in his pocket. When the glowing dog appears he yells in terror and throws himself face down on the ground.
Q 29What disguise does the spy wear while trailing Sir Henry Baskerville through London in a hansom cab?
A false beard
A false beard, bushy and black, hides the watcher's face and throws suspicion on the bearded butler back at the hall. He even tells the cabman that his name is Sherlock Holmes.
Q 30Which part of Holmes does Dr. Mortimer say he covets when he first brings the Baskerville case?
His skull
His skull fascinates the doctor, a keen student of head shapes, who asks to run a finger along it. He adds that a cast would grace any anthropological museum until the original becomes available.