“It came with the wind through the silence of the night, a long, deep mutter, then a rising howl, and then the sad moan in which it died away. Again and again it sounded, the whole air throbbing with it, strident, wild and menacing.”

– “The Hound of the Baskervilles”

The game’s afoot.

Sherlock Holmes fans, Tim Janes, Winchester’s No. 1 Sherlockian (with deerstalker) will lead a book discussion about “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Originally serialized in “The Strand Magazine” from August 1901 to April 1902, “The Hound of the Baskervilles” was the first appearance of Holmes after his apparent death in “The Final Problem.”

The success of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” led to Holmes’ revival.

Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead in the park surrounding his manor.

Baskerville’s death is attributed to a heart attack but Dr. James Mortimer says Sir Charles’s face retained an expression of horror and not far from the corpse were footprints of a gigantic hound.

A legendary curse runs in the Baskerville family from the time of the English Civil War, when Sir Hugo Baskerville abducted and murdered a woman in the mires of Dartmoor and was killed by a demonic hound. The creature has haunted the place since, killing Baskerville heirs.

Sir Charles believed in the hound and so does Dr. Mortimer, who fears for the next heir, Sir Henry Baskerville.

Dr. Mortimer comes to Holmes and Watson to ask them to protect Sir Henry Baskerville.

Not only did “The Hound” revive Sherlock Holmes stories, it is probably the best of all.

Watson takes a leading role in the investigation of the Baskerville legend.

Conan Doyle created a gloomy landscape surrounding Baskerville Hall with Grimpen Mire and Princeton prison from which a murderer escaped.

He filled that landscape with his most memorable cast of characters, including the Hound himself: “an enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen.”

Copies of “The Hound of Baskervilles” are available at the circulation desk or bring your favorite edition.

If you’ve read “The Hound” before, be advised by Holmes and “presume nothing” about your knowledge or enjoyment of the book. The discussions at Tim Janes’ Sherlock Holmes reading groups make the stories more exciting.

It is, after all, part of the mission of the Clark County Public Library to brood on and illuminate mysteries.

The library is looking for grocery bags.

Circulation managers Lynn Wills and Caleb Diederich are already organizing and preparing thousands of books they will sell at this year’s Black Friday Book Sale, the day after Thanksgiving. Readers and Christmas gift shoppers look forward to this sale every year because they know they can buy a bag of books for only $3.

While Lynn and Caleb have no shortage of good books to sell, they have no plastic shopping bags for buyers to load. So, they are asking for donations of shopping bags for the book sale.

They are looking for standard plastic shopping bags.

If you’ve been wondering what to do with old shopping bags, bring them to the library. The library always supplies book sale bags in order for all shoppers to have similar bags.

If you’d like to donate bags, bring them to the library and drop them off at the circulation desk. Just tell the librarian the bags are for the Black Friday Book Sale. If you have questions about bag donations, call the library at 859-744-5661, connect to extension 0 and ask for Lynn Wills or Caleb Diederich.

John Maruskin is director of adult services at the Clark County Public Library. He can be reached at john.clarkbooks@gmail.com.