The Case Study of Sherlock Holmes (2009) - Scholarly Commons ...

the victim lies has been locked from the inside. Doyle‟s description of the dead man is
relatively graphic in terms of what his readership were used to:
Lying across his chest was a curious weapon, a shotgun with the barrel sawed
off a foot in front of the triggers. It was clear that this had been fired at close
range and that he had received the whole charge in the face, blowing his head
almost to pieces. The triggers had been wired together, so as to make the
simultaneous discharge more destructive. (Doyle, 1927/2006b, p. 664)
The Valley of Fear (1927/2006b) “has more violent crime per volume than any other
book in the canon” (Doyle & Crowder, 2010, p. 186). Despite Valley’s unpopularity,
Doyle cultivated his audience by reflecting back to them their own wartime experiences
and allowing them to share their memories with Holmes. Doyle and Crowder (2010)
found that “these „modern‟ Holmes stories bear the imprint of being written in a world
coping with the great disillusionment that followed that devastating conflict” (p. 179).
In retrospect, it becomes apparent that Doyle cultivated Holmes into an unflinching
example of the audience‟s disillusionment. While Holmes‟s engagement with violence
onscreen is often dramatic, especially in Ritchie‟s Sherlock Holmes (2009), The Valley
of Fear (1927/2006b) portrays Holmes as being rather aloof. As the plot progresses
Holmes discovers that Mr Douglas, a crucial character in his investigation, is killed.
Watson is left to decipher Holmes‟s response, or lack of it:
It was one of those dramatic moments for which my friend existed. It would be
an over-statement to say that he was shocked or even excited by the amazing
announcement. Without having a tinge of cruelty in his singular composition, he
was undoubtedly callous from long over-stimulation. (Doyle, 1927/2006b, p.
647)
While bleak, the violence is juxtaposed with cultivated enchantment, making many of
the situations adventurous and entertaining:
When I have detailed those distant events and you have solved this mystery of
the past, we shall meet once more in those rooms on Baker Street, where this,
like so many other wonderful happenings, will find its end. (Doyle, 1927/2006b,
p. 730)
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