Comments on: Hardboiled Holmes: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Valley of Fear https://www.katclay.com/hardboiled-holmes-arthur-conan-doyles-the-valley-of-fear/ Author of fiction, reviews, and roleplaying games. Tue, 03 Dec 2019 01:27:58 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.3 By: Kat Clay https://www.katclay.com/hardboiled-holmes-arthur-conan-doyles-the-valley-of-fear/#comment-572 Tue, 03 Dec 2019 01:27:58 +0000 http://www.katclay.com/?p=3613#comment-572 In reply to katherine budd.

I don’t think it does, but I haven’t read all the Sherlock Holmes stories. You’re right in the sense that it is a very un-Holmsian Holmes story, so it might feel a little incomplete.

]]> By: katherine budd https://www.katclay.com/hardboiled-holmes-arthur-conan-doyles-the-valley-of-fear/#comment-571 Mon, 02 Dec 2019 23:48:00 +0000 http://www.katclay.com/?p=3613#comment-571 I read “Valley of Fear” but it sounds incomplete. Does it continue in another of his stories?

]]> By: Kat https://www.katclay.com/hardboiled-holmes-arthur-conan-doyles-the-valley-of-fear/#comment-462 Thu, 21 Jan 2016 22:09:00 +0000 http://www.katclay.com/?p=3613#comment-462 In reply to Maitreya.

Awesome analysis Maitreya, I agree put of the ones I’ve read that he does have a high level of detachment just like a classic PI. So great to see how Holmes has influenced modern crime writing. And yes, I should totally read all the stories. They’re ridiculously good fun.

]]> By: Maitreya https://www.katclay.com/hardboiled-holmes-arthur-conan-doyles-the-valley-of-fear/#comment-461 Wed, 20 Jan 2016 19:04:00 +0000 http://www.katclay.com/?p=3613#comment-461 I also found the prose of The Valley of Fear far grittier and hardened than the average Sherlock Holmes story. However, to a lesser extent, I think all his stories have hardboiled elements at their core:
– the typical Holmesian emotional aloofness and extreme cynicism,
– a deep and realistic understanding of the world’s harsh realities (and the incompetence of the police force),
– passing only reluctant judgement about people’s personalities and commenting largely on their habits,
– an increased focus on the technique (‘how’) of a crime rather than motive (‘why’) behind it,
– an uncanny ability to temporarily detach oneself from a case at will (something which astonished Watson more than once).

What is also fascinating is how Canon Doyle adapted his writing – going from Victorian upper-class (and often stiff upper lipped) conversations to American coal-filled grunts of criminals – within a few pages. And the amount of research that would’ve gone into the novel (as well as A Study in Scarlet) makes it even more remarkable.

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(PS: Whoa Lady! Did I just hear you say that you haven’t read all Sherlock Holmes stories yet? May I suggest that you leave whatever book you’re reading (and writing), and plunge into them straight away?)

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