Valley of Fear A Sherlock Holmes Novel

The Valley of Fear


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






Plot

The novel starts when Sherlock Holmes receives a mysterious ciphered message from an agent to Professor Moriarty using the pseudonym Fred Porlock. Together Holmes and Watson decipher Porlock's message which relates that a man named John Douglas, residing at Birlstone, is in danger.Soon inspector Alec MacDonald of Scotland Yard ask Holmes to help in the case. Holmes tells MacDonald of Porlock warning, suggesting Professor Moriarty's involvement. However, MacDonald doesn't fully believe that the educated and well respected Moriarty is a criminal.