The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Loosely based on the real-life exploits of the Molly Maguires 

and Pinkerton agent James McParland.

Sherlock Holmes decodes a cipher warning from Moriarty's organization for Douglas in Birlstone, but a corpse is already in place. When Mr. Douglas blows the head off his American assassin, he dresses the body as himself and hides to throw off the chase for good. Holmes guesses the missing dumbbell weighted down the killer's clothes in the moat. The calling card left, VV341, is the Vermissa Valley Lodge 341. Decades ago a Pinkerton, he went months undercover, first with Freemen in Chicago, then west to desolate mountain coal mine area, to take down corrupt murderers who ran the Valley Freemen Lodge, but criminals had pursued. Holmes warns Douglas, when acquitted, to flee England. But Moriarty prevails. Two months later, Mrs. Douglas telegrams from South Africa. Her husband was lost en route overboard in a gale. Holmes had warned them to flee England, and blames Moriarty.

Printing History

Written by Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (1859-1930)

Strand Magazine 

September 1914 to May 1915

George H. Doran Company 

February 1915

The Films

1916

Starring H.A. Saintsbury and Booth Conway

1935

  as The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes

Starring Arthur Wontner as Holmes and Ian Fleming as Watson