Holmes encounters one of his most formidable adversaries and must unlock the mystery of the demonic hound, the curse of the Baskerville family. Published in The Strand magazine in episodes between August 1901 and April 1902, The Hound of the Baskervilles became one of the most popular of all the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and received a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh. He said of Dr. Joseph Bell, one of his instructors, "I thought of Joe Bell, of his eagle face, of his curious ways, of his eerie trick of spotting details. If he were a detective he wold surely reduce this fascinating business to something nearer to an exact science."