Created by Scottish author and physician Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887, Sherlock Holmes was a brilliant London-based consulting detective, famous for his intellectual prowess and powers of deductive reasoning.
According to Conan Doyle, the character of Sherlock Holmes was based on his friend and mentor, Doctor Joseph Bell. Bell was interested in crime and had assisted the police in solving a few cases and, like Sherlock Holmes, he was known for drawing large conclusions from the smallest of observations.
Although Arthur Conan Doyle wrote fifty-six short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes, The Valley of Fear is the last of only four full-length novels. All but four of the Sherlock Holmes stories are narrated by his close friend and biographer, Doctor John Watson; two are told by Sherlock Holmes himself while the remaining two are written in the third person.
Synopsis
‘It is the Valley of Fear, the Valley of Death. The terror is in the hearts of the people from dusk to the dawn. Wait, young man, and you will learn for yourself.’
Sherlock Holmes is both disturbed and intrigued to receive an ominous coded message informing him that a Mr Jack Douglas of Birlstone House, an ancient manor house surrounded by a moat, is in terrible danger. However, before Holmes can act, a message arrived informing him that Douglas has been murdered, his face blown off by a shotgun blast. The detective of Scotland Yard are stumped, was Jack Douglas’ death a murder or a suicide?
Sherlock Holmes is in no doubt though for he recognises in the death of Douglas the calling card of his nemesis, Professor Moriarty.
Review
In The Valley of Fear, the fourth and final of the Sherlock Holmes novels, Arthur Conan Doyle is at his storytelling best. In this thrilling tale of fear and tyranny that stretches from the coal fields of America to an English country manor Sherlock Holmes must once again face his greatest and most deadly enemy.
The Valley of Fear is written in a similar style to Conan Doyle’s early Holmes novel A Study in Scarlet in that it is split into two parts and, although Holmes solves the murder during the first part, the motive behind the crime is not revealed until the second. Since the second part is set in America and at a much earlier date, it does mean that Sherlock Holmes himself plays virtually no role in it but it is still a fascinating story and is necessary in order to gain a proper understanding of the reasons behind Douglas’ death.
Fans of Sherlock Holmes and his intellectual battles with Professor Moriarty may be disappointed to find that, although Moriarty plays a central role in the plot, he does not actually appear in The Valley of Fear.
The Valley of Fear is followed by the fourth of Conan Doyle’s short story collections, His Last Bow.
The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
ISBN 978-0755334515, Headline Review, 2006, £4.99, pp 213
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