Publisher's Synopsis
The Valley of Fear is the fourth and last Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on the real-life exploits of the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland. The story was first published in the Strand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915. The first book edition was copyrighted in 1914, and it was first published by George H. Doran Company in New York on 27 February 1915. Grade 7 Up-A coded warning of imminent danger sends Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to the country house of the reclusive Jack Douglas. When they arrive too late to prevent a tragic death, they must follow bewildering clues and find a murderer.Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Valley of Fear (1915) is the fourth of the Sherlock Holmes mystery novels. The story, set in both the foggy moors of England and an American midwest mining town, is an intriguing work of suspense including secret societies, a perplexing murder, and the timeless deductions of literary's favorite detective. THE VALLEY OF FEAR, the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel (but not the final story), is similar to the first Holmes story, A STUDY IN SCARLET, in that it is divided into two distinct parts with the second part occurring in America. In this novel, Doyle simply made up American locales and organizations. Though there are some similarities to the Molly Maguires and the real troubles in the Pennsylvania mining country.Reading this novel without giving it any forethought was an experience much like the one I had watching FRANKENSTEIN starring Boris Karloff for the first time. Oh, so many cliches I thought until finally it seeped through my thick head that these were not cliches at all, these were the originals. I do not know that Doyle invented many of the now old hat plot devices which he used in this novel but he wrote early enough that they were certainly not cliches at the time. If imitation is really the sincerest form of flattery, then Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has been much flattered over the years.
