Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume II (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Read Free Book Online
Authors: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
action comes to him. But then Conan Doyle plays a really crafty trick on us. After reading of his rheumatism and seeing the series of mistakes Holmes had made in the last few stories, we have been conditioned to the physical weaknesses age has visited on him. When he seems to be dying from a rare tropical disease, his infirmity is believable. Then Conan Doyle turns the tables on our expectations when Holmes, once again his invincible old self, pops up, calmly lights a cigarette, and informs a killer that the jig is up.
Conan Doyle continued until 1917 to publish the stories that ultimately formed His Last Bow. He took a break after publishing “The Dying Detective” in December 1913 to start a more substantial project. Out of the blue, and to the delight of his publisher, Conan Doyle wrote to the Strand in January 1914 that he had already written half of a new Sherlock Holmes novel. The last time he sent the Strand a Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, sales of the magazine shot up by 30,000 copies. Conan Doyle finished his first and only draft by mid-April, but the novel didn’t appear in serialization in the Strand until September, after the Great War had begun. The last chapter concluded in May 1915. It was also serialized in the United States by the Associated Sunday Newspapers, which published a Sunday magazine as a supplement to the regular newspaper, much like Parade Magazine in the United States today. The U.S. version was printed once a week, while in England the Strand published chapters once a month, so the novel actually first appeared in full in the United States.
Conan Doyle expressed his apologies to his English editors for contributing only this trifling distraction instead of something more important to the war effort. He was doubly wrong: On the one hand, he could scarcely have provided anything more conducive to public morale than a new adventure by the always reassuring Sherlock Holmes, which gave citizens something to take their minds off the grisly business across the Channel. On the other hand, this particular novel ends with the implication that the forces of darkness are unconquerable, a disquieting thought in the face of the implacable Hun facing the Allies across the trenches.
Conan Doyle writes in the preface to Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Long Stories (1929) that “The valley of Fear had its origin through my reading a graphic account of the Molly McQuire [sic] outrages in the coal-fields of Pennsylvania.” That account was Allan Pinkerton’s The Molly Maguires and the Detectives, published in 1877, which details the experiences of James McParlan, a Pinkerton employee who masqueraded as James McKenna to build a case against a group of lawless Irish labor terrorists in Pennsylvania. Conan Doyle became a friend of Pinkerton’s son William, who apparently confided some information about his father’s career that Conan Doyle used in his new novel. When The valley of Fear was published, Pinkerton considered suing Conan Doyle for using this confidential information without asking permission. Exactly what Conan Doyle learned from Pinkerton we don’t know, but it’s one of those nice ironies that the son of the most famous American detective should have unwittingly provided information that formed an adventure of the world’s most famous fictional detective.
The Pinkerton liaison came several years after Conan Doyle learned of a similar infiltration of lawless gangs. In 1892 Thomas Beach had published Twenty-five Years in the Secret Service, which detailed his penetration of a group of Irish revolutionaries in America, much like the Molly Maguires. Using the name Major Henri Le Caron, he gave evidence against them and then had to be guarded by the British government for years afterward for fear of reprisals. His death on April 1, 1894 had attracted Conan Doyle’s attention, for its announcement was much publicized and Le Caron was buried in Norwood, near where Conan Doyle was
Conan Doyle continued until 1917 to publish the stories that ultimately formed His Last Bow. He took a break after publishing “The Dying Detective” in December 1913 to start a more substantial project. Out of the blue, and to the delight of his publisher, Conan Doyle wrote to the Strand in January 1914 that he had already written half of a new Sherlock Holmes novel. The last time he sent the Strand a Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, sales of the magazine shot up by 30,000 copies. Conan Doyle finished his first and only draft by mid-April, but the novel didn’t appear in serialization in the Strand until September, after the Great War had begun. The last chapter concluded in May 1915. It was also serialized in the United States by the Associated Sunday Newspapers, which published a Sunday magazine as a supplement to the regular newspaper, much like Parade Magazine in the United States today. The U.S. version was printed once a week, while in England the Strand published chapters once a month, so the novel actually first appeared in full in the United States.
Conan Doyle expressed his apologies to his English editors for contributing only this trifling distraction instead of something more important to the war effort. He was doubly wrong: On the one hand, he could scarcely have provided anything more conducive to public morale than a new adventure by the always reassuring Sherlock Holmes, which gave citizens something to take their minds off the grisly business across the Channel. On the other hand, this particular novel ends with the implication that the forces of darkness are unconquerable, a disquieting thought in the face of the implacable Hun facing the Allies across the trenches.
Conan Doyle writes in the preface to Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Long Stories (1929) that “The valley of Fear had its origin through my reading a graphic account of the Molly McQuire [sic] outrages in the coal-fields of Pennsylvania.” That account was Allan Pinkerton’s The Molly Maguires and the Detectives, published in 1877, which details the experiences of James McParlan, a Pinkerton employee who masqueraded as James McKenna to build a case against a group of lawless Irish labor terrorists in Pennsylvania. Conan Doyle became a friend of Pinkerton’s son William, who apparently confided some information about his father’s career that Conan Doyle used in his new novel. When The valley of Fear was published, Pinkerton considered suing Conan Doyle for using this confidential information without asking permission. Exactly what Conan Doyle learned from Pinkerton we don’t know, but it’s one of those nice ironies that the son of the most famous American detective should have unwittingly provided information that formed an adventure of the world’s most famous fictional detective.
The Pinkerton liaison came several years after Conan Doyle learned of a similar infiltration of lawless gangs. In 1892 Thomas Beach had published Twenty-five Years in the Secret Service, which detailed his penetration of a group of Irish revolutionaries in America, much like the Molly Maguires. Using the name Major Henri Le Caron, he gave evidence against them and then had to be guarded by the British government for years afterward for fear of reprisals. His death on April 1, 1894 had attracted Conan Doyle’s attention, for its announcement was much publicized and Le Caron was buried in Norwood, near where Conan Doyle was
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