The first part of the fourth Sherlock Holmes novel, "The Valley of Fear" (1914-15), takes place in the English county of Sussex in 1888. Following the murder of Mr. Douglas from Birlstone Manor House, the logical detective skills of Sherlock Holmes and the support of his assistant, Dr. Watson, are needed to determine the identity of the murderer and to capture him. The true and complex background of the crime is revealed, however, only after a flashback, which, in the second part of the novel, leads the reader to a coal-mining area in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania in 1875...
The Valley Of Fear (Sherlock Holmes Vol. 7)
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By T. C. jones
Format:Audio Cassette
The story is a report on the actual events surrounding the arrest, conviction, and hanging of the Molly McGuyers in Schuylkill and Carbon Countys, Pennsylvania at the end of the 19th century. In the story the Mollys are like the gansters. In the Pa. coal region they are folk heros who fought and died for workers wrights. See the movie, "Molly McGuyers" staring Sean Conrey, it's an exact match.
The actual Pinkerton, McGowan, Died of old age in California.
By hacklehorn
Format:Hardcover
The last of the four Sherlock Holmes novels, and one of the two best. It contains more detection in its first section than The Hound of the Baskervilles, with Holmes (off-stage for much of The Hound) actively investigating the murder at Birlstone, and drawing his ever-fascinating deductions from raincoats and dumb-bells; indeed it is the only pure detective story among the four, with the reader given every opportunity to solve the crime. Although the solution is justly famous, it is but a variation on "The Norwood Builder," at much greater length. The second half of the tale concerns the doings of the Pinkerton agent Birdy Edwardes in the eponymous Valley, terrorised by the Freemasons, a gripping and powerful account which is perhaps of greater interest than the detection.
Format:Paperback
At the year 1893, Doyle was sick of Holmes. Some people say he was jealous that the character he made up was more famous than he was, and he claimed that he wanted to concentrate on more "serious" writings.
By the year 1902, people have boycotted all the writings of Doyle, and they even quit going to his clinic for counsels. He was about to declare his bankruptcy. And he was trying to write a story about a myth of an enormous dog haunting the life of people in some area of Britain. He wrote the story with some new characters, but finally found that writing it with Holmes as the hero would make much better, and it would be easier than making up some new environment for the characters. People were happy, but the problem was that the story takes place in a time interval before his acclaimed death in the "Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes."
He, then, is forced to resurrect Sherlock Holmes in the "Return of Sherlock Holmes," at the year 1905, which is a collection of 10 short stories. He, then, stops writing Holmes's stories, without killing Holmes, which was a clever move. But then people were at a rage and wanted some Holmes's adventures, and Doyle had to write something, but this was not any earlier than 1914, in "The Valley of Fear," 9 years after his last appearance.
In this book, he uses almost exactly the same method of writing he used in his first book, "A Study in Scarlet." That is, he cut the story into two parts, the first one featuring Holmes, and the second one does not mention Holmes at all accept at the very end of it. People did not like that because Holmes only appears at half of the story.
And let me tell you, that the first half, which features Holmes, was not all that insightful. It was not all that clever. It was the second part that appealed to me. It was a very nice plot. And, as a matter of fact, it explained the story of the villain in the first part. There was a twist at the end, and I am sure that Mme. Christie had used it in one of her detective, Poirot's, major mysteries. I am not going to mention it, since it is going to spoil the plot of both mysteries. If you really need to know it, send and email at karitaru at hotmail.com.
And after all the book is a nice read, and is much better than its predecessor, "The Hound of Baskervilles," and I really recommend it.
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4.3 out of 5 stars
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Half the book is great, the second half is boring
The first half of this classic by Doyle The Tragedy of Birlstone is exciting mystery, Doyle at his absolute best. Read more
Published on Jan 22 2003 by Christopher J. Martin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Marvelous Adaptation of Print to Audio
Conan Doyle wrote The Valley of Fear in three parts: 1. The Tragedy of Birlstone. 2. A flashback to The Scowrers, and 3. An Epilogue. Read more
Published on Jun 19 2000 by George R Dekle
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