The Valley Of Fear Annotated Edition

The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on 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, and Annotated by Arthur I. Keller

The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on 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, and illustrated by Arthur I. Keller

The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on 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, and illustrated by Arthur I. Keller.

A new edition of the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Part of Alma Sherlock Holmes collection, it includes notes and extra material

The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland. The story was first published in the Strand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915.

Arthur Conan Doyle published The Valley of Fear in serial form in Strand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915. A book form followed the British serialization in 1915. The manuscript, 176 folio pages with Doyle's deletions and revisions, shows that Watson was not intended to be the original narrator. It is the only Holmes tale to deal directly with Irish issues.Like A Study in Scarlet, one of the more famous Holmes tales, The Valley of Fear features a flashback section inserted after Holmes has put his deductive power to work solving the mystery. This places the reader across the Atlantic Ocean and firmly on the solid ground of actual American history. The historical impetus behind the plot of The Valley of Fear was the real confrontation between the Pinkerton Detective Agency and members of an Irish secret society known as the Molly Maguires who had emigrated to Pennsylvania. Depending on one's point of view, the Molly Maguires were either just a collection of mindlessly violent vigilantes who just so happened to have targeted the anti-union owners of coal mines, or they were guerrilla warriors in the battle for fair and honest treatment of coal miners by an ownership class that wasn't above engaging Pinkerton Detective to dispense their equally violent tactics for keeping the unions under control.

The Valley of Fear begins with Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective, and Dr. Watson, his comrade and roommate at 221B Baker Street, in mid-conversation. Holmes is puzzling over an encrypted message that he received from Porlock, an associate of Holmes' nemesis, Professor Moriarty. A second message from Porlock, which was supposed to contain the key to the coded message, soon arrives, stating that he (Porlock) is afraid of Moriarty's wrath and will not reveal the purpose of his correspondence. Holmes soon deciphers the message regardless, and discovers that it warns that Douglas of Birlstone is in imminent danger. The two are soon visited by MacDonald, a policeman friend of Holmes, who informs them that this same Douglas has been murdered.Upon inspection of the dead man, it is revealed that he has been killed with a sawed off shotgun, an American weapon. Beside the disfigured body lies a card inscribed 'V.V. 341'. Other clues in the room include a bloody footprint on the windowsill, a missing dumb-bell, and the fact that the man's wedding ring is missing. Another clue discovered soon after is a bicycle, concealed just outside the house grounds. Interrogation of the house servants reveals little, and after Mrs. Douglas, wife of the murdered man, and Cecil Barker, a friend of the family, are questioned, Holmes reveals to Watson that he believes the two are in a conspiracy together.

The Valley of Fear begins with Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective, and Dr. Watson, his comrade and roommate at 221B Baker Street, in mid-conversation. Holmes is puzzling over an encrypted message that he received from Porlock, an associate of Holmes' nemesis, Professor Moriarty. A second message from Porlock, which was supposed to contain the key to the coded message, soon arrives, stating that he (Porlock) is afraid of Moriarty's wrath and will not reveal the purpose of his correspondence. Holmes soon deciphers the message regardless, and discovers that it warns that Douglas of Birlstone is in imminent danger. The two are soon visited by MacDonald, a policeman friend of Holmes, who informs them that this same Douglas has been murdered.Upon inspection of the dead man, it is revealed that he has been killed with a sawed off shotgun, an American weapon. Beside the disfigured body lies a card inscribed 'V.V. 341'. Other clues in the room include a bloody footprint on the windowsill, a missing dumb-bell, and the fact that the man's wedding ring is missing. Another clue discovered soon after is a bicycle, concealed just outside the house grounds. Interrogation of the house servants reveals little, and after Mrs. Douglas, wife of the murdered man, and Cecil Barker, a friend of the family, are questioned, Holmes reveals to Watson that he believes the two are in a conspiracy together.