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How is this book unique? Formatted for E-Readers, Unabridged & Original version. You will find it much more comfortable to read on your device/app. Easy on your eyes.Includes: 15 Colored Illustrations and BiographyThe 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. At the outset of the novel, Sherlock Holmes receives a mysterious cipher message from a man who writes under the pseudonym Fred Porlock, an agent to Professor Moriarty. Porlock occasionally sends Holmes insider information. Moriarty is blameless in the eyes of the law, but Holmes knows him to be "the controlling brain of the underworld." Together Holmes and Watson decipher Porlock's message which relates that a man named John Douglas, residing at Birlstone, is in danger.Inspector Alec MacDonald of Scotland Yard calls upon Holmes to ask for his help and informs him that Mr. Douglas of Birlstone Manor House had been murdered that morning. Sherlock Holmes tells MacDonald that since he received an alert from Porlock it is probable that Professor Moriarty's influence exists in the matter. MacDonald reminds Holmes that the professor is an educated and well respected man. Holmes informs MacDonald that although the Professor's salary is seven hundred pounds a year, he owns a painting worth over forty thousand pounds, and the Inspector agrees that this is suspicious.Holmes, Watson, and MacDonald travel to Birlstone village in Sussex. John Douglas was murdered at around midnight and had been shot in the head. The house is an old manor with a moat and drawbridge. A man named Cecil Barker was staying at the house on the night the murder took place and was a regular guest of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas. A sawn-off shotgun was found at the scene. It appeared to have been fired at close range which caused the head to have been completely blown to pieces.Cecil Barker claims that he was upstairs in his room when he heard the shot and rushed downstairs. The drawbridge was up at this time and Cecil claims that he lowered it in order to admit help. There is a mark of blood upon the window sill where someone seems to have entered. Cecil says that he thinks the intruder got away by wading through the moat but has no explanation for how the assailant entered the house in the first place, unless he entered before that time and waited in the house. A card lays beside the body with the initials V.V scrawled in ink upon it. A small branded mark is seen on the man's arm but it has not been made recently. Douglas' wedding ring appears to have been taken from his hand, which seems indicative since no others rings were taken.Hounded once again, Douglas disappeared and made for England, where he met and married his second wife. Holmes urges Douglas to leave England and warns that a new threat, greater than all those of his past, now hangs over him. Douglas takes this advice but is mysteriously lost overboard on the vessel bearing him and his wife to Africa. Holmes is convinced that Moriarty was consulted by the men who hunted Douglas and had assisted them in ending Douglas' life. Holmes intends to bring Moriarty down but warns Watson and MacDonald that it will take some time to achieve.

How is this book unique? 15 Illustrations are included Short Biography is also includedOriginal & Unabridged EditionTablet and e-reader formattedBest fiction books of all timeOne of the best books to readClassic historical fiction booksBestselling FictionThe 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.

-Illustrations by Frank WilesThe Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is based on the supposedly real-life exploits of the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland. The Valley of Fear, notable for Professor Moriarty's involvement, is set before "The Final Problem", the short story in which Moriarty was introduced. This introduces a logical difficulty, as in The Final Problem Dr. Watson has never heard of Moriarty, whereas by the end of The Valley Of Fear he is, or should be, familiar with his name and character.Go BompaCrazy!Conan Doyle was a fervent advocate of justice and personally investigated two closed cases, which led to two men being exonerated of the crimes of which they were accused. The first case, in 1906, involved a shy half-British, half-Indian lawyer named George Edalji who had allegedly penned threatening letters and mutilated animals. Police were set on Edalji's conviction, even though the mutilations continued after their suspect was jailed.The second case, that of Oscar Slater, a German Jew and gambling-den operator convicted of bludgeoning an 82-year-old woman in Glasgow in 1908, excited Conan Doyle's curiosity because of inconsistencies in the prosecution case and a general sense that Slater was not guilty. He ended up paying most of the costs for Slater's successful appeal in 1928.Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.Go BompaCrazy!Conan Doyle was friends for a time with Harry Houdini, the American magician who himself became a prominent opponent of the Spiritualist movement in the 1920s following the death of his beloved mother. Although Houdini insisted that Spiritualist mediums employed trickery (and consistently exposed them as frauds), Conan Doyle became convinced that Houdini himself possessed supernatural powers—a view expressed in Conan Doyle's The Edge of the Unknown. Houdini was apparently unable to convince Conan Doyle that his feats were simply illusions, leading to a bitter public falling out between the two.

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

Chapter 1—The Warning"I am inclined to think—" said I."I should do so," Sherlock Holmes remarked impatiently.I believe that I am one of the most long-suffering of mortals; but I'll admit that I was annoyed at the sardonic interruption. "Really, Holmes," said I severely, "you are a little trying at times."He was too much absorbed with his own thoughts to give any immediate answer to my remonstrance. He leaned upon his hand, with his untasted breakfast before him, and he stared at the slip of paper which he had just drawn from its envelope. Then he took the envelope itself, held it up to the light, and very carefully studied both the exterior and the flap."It is Porlock's writing," said he thoughtfully. "I can hardly doubt that it is Porlock's writing, though I have seen it only twice before. The Greek e with the peculiar top flourish is distinctive. But if it is Porlock, then it must be something of the very first importance."to read more download the book

Zephyr House is please to release volume 7 of the Complete Sherlock Holmes, "The Valley of Fear," which includes an introductory essay by the famed literary critic, Brander Matthews.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.At the outset of the novel, Sherlock Holmes receives a mysterious cipher message from a man who writes under the pseudonym Fred Porlock, an agent to Professor Moriarty. Porlock occasionally sends Holmes insider information. Moriarty is blameless in the eyes of the law, but Holmes knows him to be "the controlling brain of the underworld." Together Holmes and Watson decipher Porlock's message which relates that a man named John Douglas, residing at Birlstone, is in danger...

The plot of the novel is based very loosely on the real-life activities of the Molly Maguires and, particularly, of Pinkerton agent James McParland.The novel is divided into two parts: in the first, Holmes investigates an apparent murder and discovers that the body belongs to another man; and in the second, the story of the man originally thought to have been the victim is told.

The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan DoyleHow is this book unique?Tablet and e-reader formattedOriginal & Unabridged EditionAuthor Biography includedIllustrated versionFrom the annals of Dr Watson comes this dark tale of Sherlock Holmes’ early encounter with Professor Moriarty. When Holmes and Watson receive a cipher from one of Moriarty’s henchmen warning of dark doings at a manor house, they find themselves on the trail of a murderer. Almost immediately, they are on their way to Sussex where they discover a corpse with its head blown to pieces. But all is not as it seems. For the origins of this case lie in America, and involve a Pinkerton’s man and the doings of a terrible and secretive lodge ...