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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN num: 9780486445335
ISBN number: 048644533X
Label: Dover Publications
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 176
Printing Date: September 23, 2005
Publishing house: Dover Publications
Sale Popularity Level: 651765
Studio: Dover Publications
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Product Description:
A coded warning sends Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to a country retreat, where they follow a perplexing trail of clues to unmask a murderer — and to break the stranglehold of a terrorist cult. In this, the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel, Doyle is at his storytelling best.
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Rated by buyers 
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The last of the four complete Sherlock Holmes novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Valley of Fear gives the reader two plots for the price of one. More accustomed to writing short stories than well-developed novels, Doyle creates two story lines, only loosely connecting them. He then throws Moriarty, the arch-villain, into the mix, though Moriarty was killed off in a previous novel.
In the very first plot, which directly involves Sherlock Holmes, a letter warns, in code, that something dreadful will happen at Birlstone, an ancient manor house surrounded by a forty-foot moat. Before Holmes can act, however, the owner, Jack Douglas, is found shot to death, his face destroyed in the blast from a sawed-off shotgun. Douglas was an American, and the nature of his death and the weapon "proves" to the local police that the killer was also an American. As Holmes investigates, with the help of Scotland Yard, the mystery deepens. Douglas always raised the drawbridge at night, the moat was too big to leap, and there were no strangers in the house. Gradually, Holmes uncovers Douglas's background in America.
In the second plot, a group of coal miners belonging to a secret society welcome a new member, Jack McMurdo, someone accused of murder in Chicago who needed to escape someplace where no one knew him. His lodge has recommended that he go to the Vermissa plain, "the Valley of Fear," and see Boss McGinty, the Bodymaster of the lodge there. McGinty and his men belong to a group which wreaks havoc on the community when it believes injustices have occurred. Seemingly above the law, they have avoided being caught, though rumour has it that a Pinkerton man has been sent to unmask the members of the group. Holmes plays little or no part in this whole section.
The two plots have seemingly little in common, except that the dead man from Part I is branded with the mark of the lodge of miners. The second part, about the lodge of miners, provides the motivation for the murder of Douglas in the very first part. It is too bad that Doyle did not separate these two stories, since the story of the miners, though not involving Holmes, could have been developed as a powerful "one-off." It is a story filled with all the ingredients of great fiction--even including a love story--a dramatic and relevant mystery with connections to the social issues of the day. For anyone interested in watching a writer try to bridge the gap between short stories and novels, this "novel," though fun, shows the errors of using two plots with too little integration of ideas. n Mary Whipple
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Rated by buyers -
The Adventure of the "Gloria Scott" is a Sherlock Holmes short story about criminals who take over a boat. It's very much like The Valley of Fear. Sherlock Holmes and any kind of mystery is only present for the very first half of the tale, while the second half is filled with nothing but horrid violence. The only difference is the Adventure of the "Gloria Scott" is about 160 pages shorter.
There's not much else I can say about the Valley of Fear except it contains of my my all-time favorite quotes - "I am Birdy Edwards." This phrase is a terribly fun thing to say, and it capped a scene that was by far my favorite part of the Valley of Fear experience. Try saying it in internet chatrooms if you get bored.
Rather than purchase The Valley of Fear, I would HIGHLY recommend purchasing The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes (37 Short Stories And A Complete Novel From The Strand Magazine). While it does have some of the more mediocre Holmes tales like the "Gloria Scott" one, it also contains some of the best writing you'll ever find anywhere, like The Adventure of Silver Blaze and The Adventure of the Reigate Squires; works of pure genius. Plus you get pictures, and I didn't see any pictures in the Valley of Fear.
To sum up:
The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes - Capital!
The Valley of Fear - Not capital.
Rated by buyers -
THE VALLEY OF FEAR is the seventh book in the Sherlock Holmes canon. As I am reading these books in order, I can say that, although the book has its moments, it just is not up to the standard one has come to expect at this point in the series. Despite an interesting story, a couple of big points prevent it from joining the top tier.
The very first is that the mystery, although interesting, is just not that new at this point. A murder in an old remote castle, surrounded by a moat, with a wife, friend and servants all perplexed as to what may have happened, is treading old ground. Although Holmes states several times in the book that this case is one of the most interesting and perplexing he has encountered, anyone who has read the previous six books knows that this simply is not true. Doyle seems to have run out of steam here and as THE VALLEY OF FEAR is the fourth and last Sherlock Holmes novel, I hope that the subsequent two books, which return to the short story format, will be better.
Second, the book is split into two distinct parts. The very first part is the mystery itself, while the second part is the backstory of the characters that explains why things happened as they did. In this second part, there is no appearance of Holmes or Watson until the final few pages of epilogue. This harks back to the very first Sherlock Holmes book, A STUDY IN SCARLEY, which is also a novel rather than a collection of short stories, in which the action digresses into the Utah plains. Again, the writing may be good and the story even fairly interesting, but I read Sherlock Holmes to read about Sherlock Holmes. This backstory is too long for a Holmes' novel.
It only took me twenty pages of A STUDY IN SCARLET, again the very first book, to realize why Sherlock Holmes has withstood the test of time. The writing grabs the reader from the get go. It would be a shame if the series ended with a whimper rather than a bang and so I hope that THE VALLEY OF FEAR was a one-off. We shall see.
Rated by buyers 
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This one has Moriarty, what more can you want? When you have the super detective himself, Sherlock Holmes, trying to get to the bottom of what his arch-nemesis, super villain Professor Moriartry is up to, the stage is set for a gripping narrative, as they try and outdo each other, and Watson tries doggedly to follow along.
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