Sherlock Holmes

The Valley of Fear is probably Doyle’s least popular effort,
mainly because of the unconnected nature of the two novellas (a
criticism also levelled at A Study in Scarlet). German names were
changed to Swedish ones prior to publication in The Strand.
Birlstone appears to be modelled on the town of Cranbrook,
Kent.‘Fortalice’ is an archaic word for ‘fortress’ and ‘acushla’ is
the Irish word for ‘darling’. The bicycle as a means of escape is
similar to The Priory School. Moriarty appears to have two
brothers (both called James?) – one is a colonel (The Final
Problem), and the other, mentioned here, is a stationmaster.
Verdict: This is an odd book (with a huge cast). Structurally, it is
virtually identical to A Study in Scarlet, with the first half
concerning an English murder investigation and the second
detailing the bloody exploits of a religious secret society in
America. But the witty and amusing Birlstone Manor section
hardly prepares one for the ultra-violent second half. Indeed,
the Vermissa Valley segment contains some of the nastiest and
most brutal passages in the whole canon (such as a father shot
down in cold blood as his five-year-old son watches). The fact
that the reader is asked to empathise with a cold-blooded
hitman is marginally offset by the increasingly predictable twist
ending, but it’s still pretty depressing stuff. The downbeat
denouement, therefore, is hardly a surprise. 2/5
48) His Last Bow
UK: The Strand Magazine (September 1917, AG); USA: Collier’s
(22 September 1917, FDS)
S H E R L O C K H O L M E S
• 90 •

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The Case: A German spy secretly meets an Irish-American
traitor…
Date: 2 August 1914.
Characters: Von Bork, Baron Von Herling, Altamont, chauffeur,
Martha, Jack James, Hollis, Steiner, Professor Moriarty, Colonel
Sebastian Moran, Irene Adler, King of Bohemia, Count Von und Zu
Grafenstein.
Locations: Coast near Harwich; Flushing, Netherlands; Carlton
Terrace; Claridge’s Hotel; Scotland Yard.
Recorded Cases:The Empty House, A Scandal in Bohemia.
Holmes: Has been brought out of retirement from his small
farm on the South Downs, where he wrote Practical Handbook
of Bee Culture,With Some Observations upon the Segregation of the
Queen. Is 60 in 1914, so was born in 1853 or 54 (unless he has
aged himself as part of his disguise).
Watson: Is enlisting in his old service (presumably the Army
Medical Corps).
Disguise: An Irish-American spy.
Quotable Quote:
Holmes: ‘There’s an east wind coming,Watson.’
Watson: ‘I think not, Holmes. It is very warm.’
Holmes: ‘Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a
changing age. There’s an east wind coming all the same, such a
wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter,
Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But
it’s God’s own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger
land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.’
Problems: On the eve of war, why does Holmes reveal to Von
Bork that his military information is faulty? (And why hadn’t
Von Bork already sent this information back to his German
paymasters?) Carlton Terrace should be Carlton House Terrace,
site of the Imperial German Embassy.
T H E C A N O N
• 91 •

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Observations: Completed on 7 March 1917, this is the first story
to be written in the third person, presumably as Watson had so
little involvement in the case (a fact he mentions in The Problem