The Valley of Fear: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

The Valley of Fear, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is probably the best of the Sherlock Holmes novels. Like all of them (and the short stories) it is near impossible to put down, leaving the reader awestruck at Holmes's genius. Doyle's writing style is extremely impressive as always, his characters seem so very real! This book is believable, a true masterpiece of mystery literature, and in the top tier of the long list of the great English detective stories. The last of the four Sherlock Holmes novels, and one of the best, The Valley of Fear contains more detection in its first section than The Hound of the Baskervilles, with Sherlock 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. 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 heroes who fought and died for workers rights.