Author : Arthur Conan Doyle
Release : 2020-04-23
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Kind : eBook
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Book Synopsis The Valley of Fear (Annotated) by : Arthur Conan Doyle

Download or read book The Valley of Fear (Annotated) written by Arthur Conan Doyle. This book was released on 2020-04-23. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the annotated version of the original book. This is the summarized version of the Original Book. This Summarized Version consists of 30000 words which consist of 50% to 60% of the original book. This Novel is in 2 Parts and each part is summarized separately. The Brief Description is written as follows: -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.The novel starts with Sherlock Holmes receiving a cipher message from Fred Porlock, a pseudonymous agent of Professor Moriarty. After Porlock sends the message, however, he changes his mind for fear of Moriarty's discovering that he is a traitor. He decides not to send the key to the cipher, but he sends Holmes a note telling of this decision. From the cipher message and the second note, Holmes is able to deduce that it is a book cipher and that the book used for the encryption is a common book, large (with at least 534 pages), printed in two columns per page, and standardized. Holmes tries the latest edition of Whitaker's Almanac, which he had only received a few days earlier, and fails; he then tries the previous edition. With this almanac, Holmes is able to decipher the message as a warning that "some devilry is intended against one "Douglas", a country gentleman residing at Birlstone House. Cecil Barker, a frequent guest at Birlstone House, had been in his room at half-past eleven when he heard the report of a gun, according to his testimony. He had rushed down to find Douglas lying in the center of the room nearest the front door of the house, a sawed-off shotgun lying across his chest. He had been shot at close range: receiving the full charge of the shotgun in the face, his head was blown 'almost to pieces'. Barker had rushed to the village police station and notified Sergeant Wilson, who was in charge of the station. Barker drew his attention to the open window, and to a smudge of blood like the mark of a boot-sole upon the window sill. Barker speculated that the murderer had entered by the drawbridge before that time, hid in the room, and left by the window directly after killing Douglas. Holmes, MacDonald, and White Mason go to the scene of the murder. Barker says that he believes a secret society of men pursued Douglas and that Douglas retreated to rural England out of fear for his life. Some episodes of Douglas's life in America caused the fear for his life, and Mrs. Moreover, Holmes learns that the housekeeper heard a sound, as if of a door slamming, half an hour before the alarm; Holmes believes that this sound was the fatal shot. White Mason, the Sussex detective, and MacDonald track a bicycle found on the grounds of the house to an American staying at a guest house. That night Holmes, Watson, MacDonald, and White Mason lie in wait outside Birlstone Manor and see Cecil Barker fish something out of the moat. Douglas explains that he had spotted an enemy of his, Ted Baldwin, in the area and expected an attack. With Cecil's help, Douglas dressed the man in his own clothes, except for Douglas's wedding ring, to deceive the secret society which he and Baldwin had belonged to since both arms bore the society's mark. Douglas had covered for Douglas who had been hiding in a secret compartment in the room where the shooting occurred. In an interview with Watson, Douglas explains that his real name was Birdy Edwards and he had been a Pinkerton detective in Chicago. the Valley of Fear) and brought them to justice