The Valley of Fear. By A. Conan Doyle- (Smith, Elder,
and Co. 6s.)—We may make new acquaintances of greater charm and even higher intelligence, but there is a bond in our old friendship with Sherlock Holmes which is stronger than all the lure of younger detectives. His author does not pretend that we need any introduction: as we walk into the familiar room in Baker Street there be is, in his dressing. gown, discoursing as ever to the amiable Watson. He seems, indeed, to make deliberate appeal to us with reminders of bygone thrills, when we are led to the scene of the murder and fuld that, as ever, " the wkite.faced servants were huddling
in
together the hall, with the frightened butler wringing his hands in the doorway." This is the genuine article, and the first half of the book is given over to the solution of a problem worthy of Holmes'e skill. The explanation of the problem waits for the second part, and provides an entirely independent and in no way exceptional story of adventure in America. This scheme might, in other hands, pass muster, but here we confess to a feeling of disappointment; for in earlier days Sherlock Holmes would have beguiled us to the end, and would have filled the whole three hundred pages with his lovable and self-satisfied egoism.
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