The Valley of Fear (Sherlock Holmes, #7)

Synopsis

The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel bySir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on the Molly Maguires andPinkerton agent James McParland. The story was first published in theStrand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915.

The novel startswith Sherlock Holmes receiving a cipher message from Fred Porlock, apseudonymous agent of Professor Moriarty. After Porlock sends themessage, however, he changes his mind for fear of Moriarty's discoveringthat he is a traitor.

He decides not to send the key to the cipher, but hesends Holmes a note telling of this decision.

From the cipher message andthe second note, Holmes is able to deduce that it is a book-cipher and thatthe book used for the encryption is a common book, large (with at least534 pages), printed in two columns per page, and standardised. Analmanac fits these conditions exactly. Holmes tries the latest…