Review of 'The Valley of Fear (Complete Classics)' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
A most disappointing read...
paperback, 112 pages
Published May 1, 2012 by Bottom of the Hill Publishing.
Even Sherlock Holmes, well-accustomed to the bizarre, finds the elements of this case unusual; the scene of the crime, a moated English country house; the wapon, a very American sawed-off shotgun; the bereaved, strangely dry-eyed; and the solution, backward in time and deep in a VALLEY OF FEAR...
A most disappointing read...
I suspect the reason why this novel ranks last in popularity is because Holmes and Watson are absent from half of it, and even more so than in A Study in Scarlet. But the compelling nature of the setting Conan Doyle leaves them out of, and the memorable noir-western characters who inhabit it, are well worth their absence. A masterpiece!