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The Valley of Fear  By  cover art

The Valley of Fear

By: Arthur Conan Doyle
Narrated by: John Bolen
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Publisher's summary

Only Holmes and Watson can get to the bottom of this baffling murder mystery. John Douglas is found in his study, blasted faceless by a sawed-off shotgun. There is no obvious motive or suspect. Douglas and his wife, Ivy, a rich and locally popular couple, have lived for years in the ancient, moated Birlstone Manor House. Despite Douglas' nightly ritual of raising the drawbridge, the perpetrator had somehow concealed himself, shot Douglas, and made a clean getaway.

Does the mystery have something to do with the "interesting" relationship between Cecil Baker, Douglas' only friend from his obscure past, and the surprisingly merry widow? There are plenty of clues, including a brand mark on the deceased's arm and the fact that his wedding ring is missing, but not the ring that he always wore above it.

Public Domain (P)2002 Tantor Media, Inc.

What listeners say about The Valley of Fear

Average customer ratings
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Don't purchase!

I can't accurately rate the story because the narration was SO bad it distracted me from the plot completely. Awful accents that were all over the place. Definitely don't waste a credit on this, and even at a discounted price I'm sorry I purchased it.

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2 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Worst reading EVER!!!

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

NOBODY would enjoy this.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Valley of Fear?

There were none.

What didn’t you like about John Bolen’s performance?

His reading was terrible. The "accent" he used was sooo false and affected-sounding, it completely took away from the most excellent Sherlock Holmes story.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Valley of Fear?

I would never allow this narrator to read a Sherlock Holmes story.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Of Course It Was Good.

It's Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Of course it's good. The language is a bit dated, but the setting is 1875, so whether that's deliberate or incidental, it's appropriate. The narrator has a great number of characters to distinguish from each other by manner of speech, and he gives it a valiant go, but his "American" accents are as funny to this American as I suspect our attempts at British and Irish are to natives of those lands. In particular, the German girl seems to slide slowly into her German accent as an afterthought, as if the narrator remembered halfway through her lines that she should have one, and thought, "Oh what the heck, no one will notice." But with so many different people to do, I can't really fault him, and it in no way detracts from the storyline.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Sometimes the narrator is enough

Struggling to finish this. I have started over numerous times. The good news is the narrator and pace is pleasant; I play audible on this one instead of listening to tv. Today, I begin to listen to the story again. Like the old joke, there must be a pony in there.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Sherlock never disappoints!

Like any book with this fascinating detective, you are led through a web of scandal that Holmes unfolds for the reader. The narrator has a good voice for this book as well.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

So many other narrators to choose from!

Very disappointing narration cut this production short. The story still holds it’s historical literary place.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Sherlock Holmes!

I liked the narrator and storyline. It was an interesting book and I enjoyed it immensely.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Horrible Narration!

I struggled with this one. His accents are so bad that it is not always clear who is speaking....and many times the voices don't flow together; they sound like someone who is just reading the words and not part of the conversation.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

It’s Sherlock!

Of course the story is great but the narration is not so great. Characters were stiff. The character of mcginty was very poorly acted.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Pick a different version

Great story but the narrator sounds like a he is auditioning for an acting part and it winds up on bloopers track at the end of a movie. Had to find another version.

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