The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final novel featuring Sherlock Holmes.   The story opens with Holmes receiving an encrypted message from an agent of his arch enemy Moriarty, who then loses heart and informs Holmes as such. Holmes deduces the key is a book cipher based on an almanac and learns a country gentleman named Douglas is in danger. Only minutes Inspector MacDonald arrives with news of the murder of a Mr. John Douglas of Birlstone Manor, and they travel to investigate.  A guest at the house, Barker, describes finding Douglas in a room by the front door just before midnight with his face blown off, a sawed-off shotgun across his chest, and his wedding ring missing. Muddy boot prints are on the floor and blood stains are on the window sill.  He speculates that the murderer entered the house before the drawbridge over the moat was raised at 6:00 pm and fled after the murder. He mentions that a secret society may be after Douglas and that was why he had settled in rural England. Mrs. Douglas corroborates the story and seems oddly less than distraught.  A bicycle belonging to an American staying at the guest house is discovered, but the guest, possibly the murderer, has vanished. Holmes quickly perceives key discrepancies that show the two to be lying, and sets a trap by ordering the moat drained.  When Barker is caught in the act of fishing a bundle out of the moat, we suspect the culprit has been found, but the plot twists and turns a bit more before we are done.       

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