The Valley of Fear (Version 4 Dramatic Reading)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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The Valley of Fear is the fourth novel Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about private detective Sherlock Holmes. First published serially in The Strand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915, this novel was published as a book three months before its serialization was complete. Doyle went on to write more Sherlock Holmes stories, but The Valley of Fear was his last novel about the character. This novel is the only one of the four in which criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty appears, and one of only two stories by Doyle in which Moriarty plays a direct role; despite the prominence that later Sherlock Holmes adaptations have given to Moriarty, this antagonist plays a minor role in Doyle’s original oeuvre.

In writing The Valley of Fear, Doyle used a similar structure to that of his first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet; both novels are divided into two seven-chapter parts, the first part focusing on Sherlock Holmes’s investigation of a murder and the second part exploring the murder’s backstory. Inspiration for The Valley of Fear came from the life of real-world private detective James McParland and his investigation of the Molly Maguires, an Irish secret society. Further inspiration came from Groombridge Place, a moated manor house in England on which the novel’s Birlstone Manor is closely based. This novel has sometimes attracted controversy due to its negative depiction of trade unions. For example, the 1930s radio series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes dramatized all of Doyle’s canonical Sherlock Holmes short stories and novels except The Valley of Fear, which was excluded because its depiction of trade unions was considered too political. Consequently, a radio adaptation of this novel did not appear until 1960. Other media adaptations have included films, television episodes, and a stage play. - Summary by David Purdy

Cast List:
Sherlock Holmes: Peter Yearsley
Dr. Watson: David Purdy
John Douglas: Algy Pug
Jack McGinty: Greg Giordano
Cecil Barker: larryhayes7
Alec MacDonald: Adrian Stephens
White Mason: Craig Franklin
Mike Scanlan: ToddHW
Ivy Douglas: Jenn Broda
Ettie Shafter: TJ Burns
Ted Baldwin: Yoganandh T
Carter: bwg1214
Ames: James R. Hedrick
Brother Morris: Chuck Williamson
Tiger Cormac: rssmith121999
Harraway: Farzan
Sergeant Wilson: john warren hart
Teddy Marvin: Joe Bergin
Arthur Willaby: chuckconvr
Gower: Beeswaxcandle
Manders: lorda
Fred Porlock: Larry Wilson
Dr. Wood: Michael Broomhill
Policeman Evans: Jaime Kurzweg
Policeman Hunt: Ted Perkins
Jenkins: KevinS
Jacob Shafter: arbycoors
James Stanger: Tad Davis
J.W. Windle: Tomas Peter
Reilly: Scott Caulkins
Mansel: Alan Dove
Young Wilson: John Payton
James Murdoch: Peter Dann
Mrs. Larbey: Carol Sutton
Josiah H. Dunn: Rich Brown
Lawler: Keith Salis
Operator: Michelle Purdy
Telegrapher: redrun
Professor Moriarty: Cavaet
Narrator: Michele Eaton
(6 hr 28 min)

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