The valley of fear

The novel begins like many of the stories of Sherlock Holmes: a case is presented, Holmes gets involved, and the particulars of the crime are laid out before the reader. However, midway through the novel a major shift takes place in that the backstory of one of the characters takes over; now we are twenty years prior, in the coalfields of Pennsylvania, and dealing with a band of rapacious and murderous Irish union men. It is an abrupt shift and one that disconcerted readers looking for more of the perspicacious British detective, but Doyle was working through his own issues with his Irish identity.