The Valley of Fear
About this audiobook
“The greatest schemer of all time, the organizer of every deviltry...”
The final full-length novel in the Sherlock Holmes canon, The Valley of Fear is a fascinating, two-part mystery that bridges classic Victorian detection with American secret-society lore.
A cryptic, coded warning from an informant inside Professor Moriarty’s criminal network sends Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson rushing to Birlstone Manor. But they arrive too late. The master of the estate, John Douglas, lies dead in a secured room, his face horrific and unrecognizable, with a mysterious calling card left beside his body: “V.V. 341."
How would a killer vanish from a heavily guarded, moat-ringed manor? As Holmes untangles the inexplicable clues, the investigation takes a gripping turn across the Atlantic. In the second half of the novel, the story delves into a dark, gritty flashback which takes place in a lawless American mining community, where a brutal secret society ruthlessly rules through terror and extortion.
As the two worlds violently collide, Holmes must match wits with the invisible shadow of his arch-nemesis, Professor James Moriarty. The final full-length Sherlock Holmes novel, The Valley of Fear is a brilliant blend of classic locked-room mystery and hard-boiled American noir, delivered with the brilliant deduction listeners expect from the great detective.
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About the author
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was born of Irish parentage in Scotland. He took a degree in medicine at the University of Edinburgh, but he also had a passion for storytelling. He began writing detective stories to supplement his income and A Study in Scarlet introduced his finest creation, the hawk-eyed detective, Sherlock Holmes. Despite the immense popularity Holmes gained throughout the world, Doyle was not overly fond of the character and preferred to write other stories. Eventually popular demand won out and he continued to satisfy readers with the adventures of the legendary sleuth. He also wrote historical romances and made two essays into pseudoscientific fantasy: The Lost World and The Poison Belt.
Marnye Young is an award-winning narrator for New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors. A SAG-AFTRA voice, stage, and screen actor, she has spent her life in the South, Midwest, and North. Having performed in Romania, Sweden, Scotland, New York City, and elsewhere, she has been praised for her impeccable comic timing as well as her ability to make you cry. She has also been called an ‘accent guru.’ When she isn’t narrating, she’s podcasting, writing a self-deprecating comical blog about her identical twins, fishing, following NASCAR, volunteering (CRIS radio and TIC), running a small playreading group in NYC, raising chickens, and of course ‘mom’ing. Her favorite literary character is Sherlock Holmes. She would like to thank everyone who made it possible for her to be where she is today.
