The Hound Of The Baskervilles back

"Hmm... are you armed, LeStrade?"
"As long as I have my trousers I have a hip pocket, and as long as I have a hip pocket I have something in it!"
"Good man."

A lovely piece of completely unintentional innuendo between Holmes and LeStrade towards the climax of the book that had me sniggering like a schoolboy. What a fantastic adaptation this is from Edginton and Culbard of one of master detective's best-known adventures. I would actually have to say I prefer this to the original text by some distance.

Edginton's tight adaptation of the witty verbal interplay between the characters is a joy to read, particular when combined with Culbard's vivid and luminous artwork, from the assiduously patterned flock wallpaper in Holmes study to the imposing facades of Victorian London.

Here's a little sequence when Sir Henry, the American inheritor of the Baskervillles' wealth, is travelling by train to his new estate with Dr. Watson and sees the beauty of the English countryside for the first time. Edginton and Culbard capture the scene perfectly:

"Y'know, I've been over a good part of the world, Dr Watson, but I've never seen a place that compares to this."
"Indeed, I never saw a Devonshire man that did not swear by his county."
"I'm as keen as possible to see the moor."
"Then your wish is easily granted... for there is your first sight of it."

The highest possible compliment I can give is that I'm quite sure Conan Doyle would be absolutely delighted with how his creations have been brought to life once again in this work, and remain as relevant, engaging and entertaining over one hundred and thirty years from when he first imagined them.