Resumo de The Valley Of Fear - Arthur Conan Doyle

Set in the late 1880s, years before Holmes' epic confrontation with Professor Moriarty in "The Final Problem," the story opens with Holmes receiving a coded message of warning from one of the great detective's numerous informants, a mysterious man named Porlock, who also happens to be a lackey of the nefarious Moriarty. Porlock's letter is constituted of numbers, not words, with the proper names "Douglas" and "Birlstone" sprinkled throughout. It's obviously a cipher, the key to which, Holmes theorizes, will follow in the next post. He believes the numbers refer to the words on a specific page of a book. But the subsequent mail doesn't bring the desired volume, only a letter from Porlock requesting the whole matter dropped. Moriarty is on to him. But Holmes is never one to abandon an intellectual pursuit, especially one involving the criminal genius of Moriarty, so he quickly discerns the identity of the intended book and cracks the code. A Mr. Douglas of Birlstone Manor is in perilous danger. The man's life depends upon quick action. Before Holmes and Watson can raise the proper alarm, an officer from Scotland Yard appears at their door in dire need of help. It seems a Mr. Douglas of Birlstone Manor House has just been murdered. A shotgun blast had alerted the other occupants of the house. When Cecil Barker, a visiting friend of the deceased's, went downstairs to investigate, he found Mr. Douglas dead, his face completely obliterated. The murder weapon was left behind, as was a card marked with the initials "V. V." above the number "341." Muddy boot prints were discovered behind some curtains. A window was open, a bloody smudge on the sash testifying it to be the escape route. Although, Birlstone Manor's unique geography complicated any exit or entrance. A moat completely encircled the house, meaning someone could only reach the residence through use of the drawbridge... unless, you know, they didn't mind getting their pants really, really wet. There are three other unique aspects to the crime. First, the right sleeve of the murdered man's shirt is rolled up, exposing a strange symbol branded into the flesh of his inner forearm. Second, the man's wedding ring is missing. To steal the ring, the murderer first had to remove another ring which was then replaced on the finger after the wedding ring was stolen. That seems odd. And finally, there's only one barbell in the room. This immediately catches the detective's attention. Why only one barbell? Don't they usually come in pairs? But what do I know? Exercise is for suckers. "The Valley of Fear" is constructed exactly like "A Study in Scarlet." It's divided into two parts, the first involves Holmes and Watson and the solving of the crime; the second is a flashback providing the background for the murder. A brief epilogue wraps everything up in a neat little bow. And, as in the previous novel, the second section is narrated in the third person, not in Watson's endearingly comfortable voice. And that's the main problem with "The Valley of Fear," it just reads like a cheap, lesser version of "A Study in Scarlet." Aside from the identical structure, which seemed inventive the first time around but old and tired here, revenge is once again the motive for the crime, with the flashback concerning yet another secretive group hellbent for mayhem, only this time it's the Eminent Order of Freemen and not the Mormons. Between you and me, keep an eye on those Mormons. People sometimes complain that the flashback in "A Study in Scarlet" is awkward and ill-timed, taking away from the flow of the story, but I found it to be the book's saving grace. I really admired Mr. Doyle's crisp, terse prose and loved how he let the reader think on their own. It's rather pathetic when people consider having to think for themselves "awkward." In "The Valley of Feavolving murderous thugs controlling Pennsylvania coal towns, is much easier to follow, and therefore a whole lot less interesting. If you can suffer through an extremely weak love story set against the corruption, you'll be rewarded with a clever twist at the end. And don't get your hopes up about Moriarty. Even though he does play a role in the story, he never actually appears. Despite Moriarty's immense notoriety today, he only ever appeared in one Sherlock Holmes story, "The Final Problem." Moriarty's presence in "The Valley of Fear" does, however, create an error in continuity. Even though the novel is set years earlier, Watson claims to have never heard of Moriarty in "The Final Problem." Then again, who can blame Watson? I forget plenty of things myself. For instance, why am I not wearing pants? I also have to take issue with Mr. Doyle's use of the cipher involving the specific page of a book. I know, it's exceptionally clever. And it was even more clever the first time I encountered it in Emile Gaboriau's "Monsieur Lecoq." This is just another example of Mr. Doyle ripping off his predecessors. I reckon he was kind of like the Puff Daddy of detective fiction. And when you think about it, the premise of the coded message really makes no sense since the words "Douglas" and "Birlstone" weren't in code, thereby betraying the intent of the missive to anyone even remotely interested in intercepting the letter.

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