The Valley of Fear: Original and Unabridged

by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Valley of Fear, the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle." Based loosely on the real-life exploits of the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland.

Holmes decodes a cipher warning from Moriarty's organization for "Douglas" in "Birlstone," but a corpse is there already. When Mr. Douglas blows the head off his American assassin, he dresses the body as himself, and hides, to throw off the chase for good. Holmes guesses the missing dumb-bell weighted down the killer's clothes in the moat.

154 pages, Paperback

Published September 10, 2014

About the author

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.

Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.

Reviews

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another case where Homes and Watson investigate but then there is a lengthy back story. Good story but I found some of the back story annoying with many superlatives about the characters, particularly the main one.

[Jane Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

did the audio book with Sir Christopher Lee. A Holmes mystery with the legend Mr. Lee reading it? I call that a winner in my book!