I was surprised to learn, although Arthur Conan Doyle wrote over fifty Sherlock Holmes short stories, he had only written four Holmes novels - A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Valley of Fear. A relatively small amount of material for the most famous detective in literature. This fourth Holmes novel features him only in the beginning and end, with the bulk of the action taking place without him in America.
Sherlock Holmes and Watson join the local police at Birlstone Manor, just west of Tunbridge Wells, where they find the wealthy owner John Douglas lying in the parlour, shot in the face. He is positively identified, but with a moat around the house, who could have gotten in? His family and staff had left him just moments before. The story shifts back to a burgeoning 1785 Virginia coal town, where the workers have formed a Free Men society. Well regarded across the US, this branch has devolved into ruling the mining companies through intimidation, and if you don't follow their way, old west justice. Those outside the society know standing up to the Free Men means certain death, as it comes swiftly to those members who disagree with their leader, the Boss Master. Into this comes new recruit McMurdo of Chicago, who falls in love with a local girl and tries his best to diffuse the explosive situation.
Although a story of the old west was not what I expected from a Sherlock Holmes novel, it was entertaining and as well written as other westerns I've read of the time. The language of 1915 is a little stale but not an impediment, and there is a twist ending like a bolt out of the blue that I Did Not See Coming! A treat to be really shocked after I felt I had figured out the story. Recommended for Holmes fans? Not if you want to see the man at work, this was another type of story - and not really much of a mystery.
I read a hardcover copy printed in 1934.
It's widely available as a free digital download online.
1916 / Hardcover / 306 pages
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