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jdglasgow 's review for:
The Valley of Fear
by Arthur Conan Doyle
I’m reading the Holmes books/stories out of publication order at the recommendation of a random website, Reedsy.com. I was told this is a sort of prequel to earlier-published books featuring Moriarty. Even though it’s the seventh book published, it’s the fourth I’ve read. As it is, Moriarty is mentioned here and there is a suggestion that he is ultimately the guiding hand behind the murder at the center of the story, but the reasons he is suspected or who exactly he is supposed to be in relation to Holmes is pretty unclear. I get the sense that this book expects you to have all that information already, kind of like ‘The Phantom Menace’ expects you to know Anakin Skywalker’s whole deal, though thankfully the talk of Moriarty is limited. I don’t think it affected my ability to enjoy the book.
As a matter of fact, I enjoyed it quite a lot! I’d say it’s the best I’ve read since A STUDY IN SCARLET. It begins with Holmes receiving a coded message; despite not receiving the key to the code, he figures it out by masterful deduction. It turns out to be a warning that one Mr. Douglas is in danger… as it happens, the missive arrived too late—news comes shortly that this Mr. Douglas has been murdered, and in a particularly gruesome fashion, too.
The tale turns to Holmes’ attempts to explain the murder and identify the culprit, made perplexing by certain key elements: a moat around the home, a missing wedding band, a missing dumbbell, an extinguished candle. Only the mind of Sherlock Holmes is able to piece these clues together, which he does in a thrilling way resulting in a solution to the mystery which is actually very satisfying.
From here, the book takes a page from A STUDY IN SCARLET and flashes back to explain events leading to the murder, and yes they once again take place in America. Two points about this digression. First, it breaks from STUDY by warning the reader about the change in narrative in advance and assuring the sensitive soul that the story *will* return to the present. I found this hilarious. Conan Doyle must have gotten a lot of flak from the first time he did this and wanted to avoid upsetting anybody’s delicate sensibilities this time. Second, this story is very engaging—and in fact has a twist of its own to make it as compelling a story as the first half.
This is a tight, well-written and well-constructed mystery story. I found some of the short stories to be limply plotted, and I thought SIGN OF THE FOUR spun its wheels a lot delaying its conclusion. This one, I felt, was firing on all cylinders all the way through. It didn’t have the same surprise that STUDY did, but it reminded me how good Sherlock can be. It convinced me to go straight into the next one (doubling back to MEMOIRS). I’m excited by the detective again. This was a great case.
As a matter of fact, I enjoyed it quite a lot! I’d say it’s the best I’ve read since A STUDY IN SCARLET. It begins with Holmes receiving a coded message; despite not receiving the key to the code, he figures it out by masterful deduction. It turns out to be a warning that one Mr. Douglas is in danger… as it happens, the missive arrived too late—news comes shortly that this Mr. Douglas has been murdered, and in a particularly gruesome fashion, too.
The tale turns to Holmes’ attempts to explain the murder and identify the culprit, made perplexing by certain key elements: a moat around the home, a missing wedding band, a missing dumbbell, an extinguished candle. Only the mind of Sherlock Holmes is able to piece these clues together, which he does in a thrilling way resulting in a solution to the mystery which is actually very satisfying.
From here, the book takes a page from A STUDY IN SCARLET and flashes back to explain events leading to the murder, and yes they once again take place in America. Two points about this digression. First, it breaks from STUDY by warning the reader about the change in narrative in advance and assuring the sensitive soul that the story *will* return to the present. I found this hilarious. Conan Doyle must have gotten a lot of flak from the first time he did this and wanted to avoid upsetting anybody’s delicate sensibilities this time. Second, this story is very engaging—and in fact has a twist of its own to make it as compelling a story as the first half.
This is a tight, well-written and well-constructed mystery story. I found some of the short stories to be limply plotted, and I thought SIGN OF THE FOUR spun its wheels a lot delaying its conclusion. This one, I felt, was firing on all cylinders all the way through. It didn’t have the same surprise that STUDY did, but it reminded me how good Sherlock can be. It convinced me to go straight into the next one (doubling back to MEMOIRS). I’m excited by the detective again. This was a great case.