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Title: The Valley of Fear (BBC Radio Collection) by Arthur Conan Doyle, Clive Merrison, Michael Williams, Bert Coules ISBN: 0-563-38159-0 Publisher: BBC Consumer Publishing Pub. Date: 02 March, 1998 Format: Audio Cassette

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Average Customer Rating: 4.8 (10 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Just Couldn't Put It Down....
Comment: Not being a Sherlock Holmes fan, I came by the "The Valley of Fear" through a somewhat less traditional route. I was familiar with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's, "The White Company", "Sir Nigel" and "The Adventures of Gerard", but for some inexplicable reason his wonderful mysteries escaped my earlier readings. I aim to remedy the deficiency. For now, this is my first Sherlock Holmes book, and I just couldn't put it down.

Who can really add to all that has been written over the years about this classic? The reader cannot help but be struck with Doyle's writing style. Its economy is a marvel. It is crisp and crackling, not to mention spellbinding. Even a straightforward introduction is masterly handled. Here, for example, is Watson telling us about the crime scene we are about to enter: "....I will.... describe events which occurred before we arrived on the scene by the light of knowledge which came to us afterwards."

Of course Doyle can establish a new scene with the same economy, but turn up the atmospheric temperature a good deal higher. He begins his retrospective "Scowrers" section in the snowbound Gilmerton Mountains, where a single track railroad leads us through a "long, winding tortuous valley," which is part of the "gloomy land of black crag and tangled forest."

This book is really two books woven together by the mysterious history of the central crime victim. The first is set in England, the second in the United States. Keep a sharp ear out for Doyle's deft handling of the King's English and then its transformation into the 19th Century Americanized version. The King's English is all about civility and civilization. In the American tongue, Doyle takes us to the fringes of civilization, to a Western mining town, where cruelty -- not civility -- is the order of the day.

I suppose one could argue that Holmes' deductive reasoning is the ultimate bulwark against chaos and violence. Perhaps for another Sherlock Holmes book. But I can't help but cite one example of Watson's obvious English sense of what is proper. Holmes' companion/narrator takes a stroll in an old-world garden surrounded by ancient yew trees, where he accidentally overhears the murder victim's wife laughing. Worse, she is laughing with her just murdered husband's faithful male companion. As Watson the narrator puts it, "I bowed with a coldness which showed, I dare say, very plainly the impression which had been produced upon my mind......I greeted the lady with reserve. I had grieved with her grief in the dining room. Now I met her appealing gaze with an unresponsive eye." Good ol' Watson!

May I suggest to the reader that, after this classic, you turn to R.L. Stevenson's, "The Master of Ballantrae"? Stevenson's masterpiece also jumps from the old world to the new, and like "The Valley of Fear" the new world for Stevenson also represents murder and mayhem. Something to ponder from these two great Scottish novelists.

Rating: 5
Summary: Doyle at his best.
Comment: The other reviews on this page express my feelings for 'The Valley of Fear'. A real page turner. But what makes it most memorable for me is not that Holmes is at his best, but Conan Doyle is. I remember reading of the Molly Maguires in school. And the thought of them terrified me. Doyle caused me to relive that fear by his accurate depicting of this terriost group. And even a brief reading in any encyclopedia is proof enough that is what they were. Doyle was frequently topical, even to Americans. Remember 'The Five Orange Pips' and it's connection to the Ku Klux Klan? Don't miss 'The Valley of Fear'. It's terrifying, exciting, and best of all, real.

Rating: 4
Summary: Valley Of Fear
Comment: 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 heros who fought and died for workers wrights. See the movie, "Molly McGuyers" staring Sean Conrey, it's an exact match.

The actual Pinkerton, McGowan, Died of old age in California.