The Valley of Fear
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When a strange coded message arrives at 221B Baker Street, sent by a member of Professor Moriarty’s criminal organization, Sherlock Holmes soon deciphers it and finds a warning: someone is about to be murdered. A visit from a Scotland Yard inspector confirms that one John Douglas has been mysteriously killed in Sussex. Even Sherlock Holmes, well accustomed to the bizarre, finds the elements of this case unusual. John Douglas lived at Birlstone Manor House, built on the ruins of a castle surrounded by a moat. Every night he drew up the bridge as a precaution against potential villains. Nevertheless, Douglas was found dead, shot in the face at close range with a sawed-off shotgun. And the bereaved are strangely dry-eyed.
The mystery spans the Atlantic, from Sussex and the foggy streets of London to a coal-mining region in Pennsylvania, and the ultimate twist can only be untangled by the incomparable skill of the legendary Holmes.
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Arthur Conan Doyle, a Scottish writer whose works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays, romances, poetry, and nonfiction, is best known as the creator of the detective Sherlock Holmes. While Holmes was the embodiment of scientific thinking, Doyle himself did not exhibit the same rationality, believing in fairies and occultism. His Sherlock Holmes stories have been translated into more than fifty languages and have been made into plays, films, radio and television series, cartoons, and comic books. By 1920, Doyle was one of the most highly paid writers in the world. Other works by Doyle include The Lost World, the first book in the Professor Challenger series; The White Company, one of his many historical novels; and The Great Boer War. Doyle was born at Picardy Place, near Edinburgh, in 1859. He was educated in Jesuit schools and studied at Edinburgh University. In 1884, he married Louise Hawkins. Doyle qualified as a doctor in 1885 and practiced medicine as an eye specialist in Hampshire until 1891, when he became a full-time writer. Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, was published in 1887 and introduced the detective's faithful associate, Dr. Watson. During the Boer war in South Africa (1899-1902), Doyle served several months as the senior physician at a field hospital. There he wrote The War in South Africa, in which he expressed the imperial view. He twice ran unsuccessfully for Parliament but nevertheless was knighted in 1902. In 1907, fourteen months after his wife died, Doyle married Jean Leckie. After his son Kingsley died in the first World War, Doyle dedicated himself to spiritualistic studies at his home in Windlesham, Sussex. He died himself in 1930.
Michael Healy has appeared off Broadway and on national television, most notably on Saturday Night Live for three years, as well as in several national commercials. He continues to hone his craft in Rhode Island, where he has won awards for acting. His audiobook recordings include Mr. Midshipman Easy by Frederick Marryat, The Collector of Lost Things by Jeremy Page, and The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
