Doyle, Arthur Conan. “Valley of Fear.” The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Doubleday and Company, 1930.
Reason read: I am still slogging through Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s complete works. He died in July so I am picking it back up.
I took a break from Sherlock Holmes because I was getting bored of the formulaic storytelling. Even though the plot of Valley of Fear follows a scheme we are all familiar with, my hiatus was long enough that I did not mind. I could stomach the repetition of gimmicks used in previous stories. (Sherlock being condescending and Watson’s all-forgiving attitude bothered me the most.) Additionally, the second half of the story was so different from the first that I forgot I was reading a Sherlock Holmes mystery. The refreshing shift in the narrative in the second half of the story kept me engaged, as it provided a deeper understanding of the characters and their motivations in part one. Part One finds Sherlock investigating a murder at a remote location, complete with a moat and drawbridge. Meanwhile, Part Two delves into the backstory of McMurdo, weaving and unraveling and weaving again a tangled web of secrecy and deceit that extends beyond what initially seemed obvious. His involvement in the clandestine society steeped in blackmail and murder not only adds depth to the storyline but also sheds light on the darker side of the era (the start of the Chicago mafia family?).
As an aside, the final solution to the mystery reminded me of the first episode of The Closer, a television show starring Kyra Sedgewick. Everyone assumed the wrong identity of the victim which made the ending interesting.
Author fact: Many people believe Doyle was trying to get away from Sherlock Holmes stories when he wrote Valley of Fear as Holmes does not appear in the second half of the story.
Book trivia: Valley of Fear is the last novel in the collection. From here on out I am reading short stories.
Playlist: “I’m Sitting on the Stile, Mary” and “On the Banks of Allan Water.”
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 117).
~*LunaSea*~ 