"It is the Valley of Fear, the Valley of Death. The terror is in the hearts of the people from the dusk to the dawn. Wait, young man, and you will learn for yourself." Sherlock Holmes is intrigued and disturbed when he receives an ominous coded message: a Mr Douglas of Birlstone House is in terrible danger. Before Holmes can act, shocking news arrives. Douglas has been found dead ? his face blown off by a shotgun. Scotland Yard is stumped. Was this suicide or murder? But Holmes is in no doubt. For he recognizes the calling card of his nemesis. Professor James Moriarty. First serialized in The Strand Magazine from September 1914 to May 1915, The Valley of Fear is Conan Doyle's fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel. It is loosely based upon the real-life Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland.