I have come to enjoy A. Conan Doyle's odd construction of "A Study in Scarlet" and this book. I think I like "Valley of Fear" even more for its bifurcated country-house mystery and rough-and-tumble American gangsterism. For all its British condescension, "Valley of Fear" looks forward to the rise of 20th-century American crime writing (especially in its inclusion of a Pinkerton agent!). I'll be teaching this book in the spring and I can't wait. I have in my possession from Netflix right now the 1970 film "The Molly Maguires," starring Sean Connery and Richard Harris. The movie is based on the true-story events that likewise inspired Arthur Conan Doyle's last Holmes novel. I highly recommend this book for its historical value, and for its odd literary merit. Sherlock Holmes never gets old.