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The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is loosely based on the Molly Maguires and Pinkerton agent James McParland. The story was first published in the Strand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915. The first book edition was copyrighted in 1914, and it was first published by George H. Doran Company in New York on 27 February 1915, and illustrated by Arthur I. Keller. The novel starts with Sherlock Holmes receiving a cipher message from Fred Porlock, a pseudonymous agent of Professor Moriarty.

The main attraction of an upcoming exhibition on ancient Egypt vanishes shortly before opening night at the British Museum. The pharaoh sarcophagus, which would normally contain an ancient mummy, is empty. At the request of the distraught museum director, Holmes and Watson take up the case.

The elderly owner of a Scottish whisky distillery receives an anonymous death threat by mail. Holmes and Watson travel to the Highlands to get to the bottom of it and put an end to this dangerous game.

A treacherous murder rattles the Japanese embassy in London. The in-house secret service agent turns to Sherlock Holmes for help in quickly solving the case before it provokes a diplomatic crisis.

Sherlock Holmes is called to the London Zoo to investigate the treacherous murder of an unusual victim. While Scotland Yard ascribes little significance to the case, Holmes believes he has uncovered a politically motivated assassination.

Baron Collingwood's eldest son and heir to the title dies from a mysterious illness. Shortly thereafter, his brother, the second in line, also falls ill. His condition takes a dramatic turn for the worse, leaving doctors and police stumped. The Baron thus turns to Holmes and Watson for help.

Holmes and Watson are spending their day off at the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens when the discovery of a dead body in the large Palm House requires their immediate attention. The park's head of security enlists their help in hope of solving the case before the arrival of Scotland Yard.

Holmes is faced with a moral dilemma when his latest client turns out to be a former pirate captain who had been robbed of his bounty nearly two decades ago. Can Holmes help him recover his share of the treasure from his former shipmates?

This story concerns a firework, who is one of many to be let off at the wedding of a prince and princess. The rocket is extremely pompous and self-important, and denigrates all the other fireworks, eventually bursting into tears to demonstrate his "sensitivity." As this makes him wet, he fails to ignite and, the next day, is thrown away into a ditch.

The Happy Prince and Other Tales is a collection of bedtime stories for children by Oscar Wilde, first published in May 1888. It contains five stories that are highly popular among children and frequently read in schools: " The Happy Prince ," " The Nightingale and the Rose ," " The Selfish Giant ," " The Devoted Friend ," and " The Remarkable Rocket ." The short stories are valued for their morals, and have been made into animated films.

The Selfish Giant owns a beautiful garden which has 12 peach trees and lovely fragrant flowers, in which children love to listen after returning from school. On the giant's return after visiting his friend the Cornish Ogre for seven years, he takes offence at the children and builds a wall to keep them out.

A nightingale overhears a student complaining that the professor's daughter will not dance with him, as he is unable to give her a red rose; a lizard, a butterfly and a daisy laugh at the student for doing so. The nightingale visits all the rose-trees in the garden, and one of the roses tells her there is a way to produce a red rose, but only if the nightingale is prepared to sing the sweetest song for the rose all night with her heart pressing into a thorn, sacrificing her life.

In a town full of suffering poor people, a swallow who was left behind after his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter meets the statue of the late "Happy Prince", who has never experienced true sorrow, for he lived in a palace where sorrow was not allowed to enter. Viewing various scenes of people suffering in poverty from his tall monument, the Happy Prince asks the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the gold leaf covering his body to give to the poor.

"The Secret Garden" is a short story by G. K. Chesterton. It was originally published in The Story-Teller in October, 1910. It is the second story in the collection The Innocence of Father Brown. It is the second story about the French detective Valentin and completes his plot arch, begun in The Blue Cross.

"The Blue Cross" is a short story by G. K. Chesterton. It was the first Father Brown short story and also introduces the characters Flambeau and Valentin. It is unique among the Father Brown mysteries in that it does not follow the actions of the Father himself, but rather those of Valentin. It was first published on 23 July 1910, under the title "Valentin Follows a Curious Trail", in the Saturday Evening Post, Philadelphia. Re-titled as "The Blue Cross", publication in London followed, in The Story-Teller magazine of September 1910.

The Queer Feet" deals with Flambeau wanting to steal the silverware of the members of the Twelve True Fishermen having their annual club dinner at Vernon Hotel. The Vernon Hotel is an exclusive hotel and a "topsy-turvy product" (Chesterton 1994, p. 51).

Both by calling and conviction Father Brown knew better than most of us, that every man is dignified when he is dead. But even he felt a pang of incongruity when he was knocked up at daybreak and told that Sir Aaron Armstrong had been murdered. There was something absurd and unseemly about secret violence in connection with so entirely entertaining and popular a figure. For Sir Aaron Armstrong was entertaining to the point of being comic; and popular in such a manner as to be almost legendary.

The tenth story in The Innocence of Father Brown is entitled The Eye of Apollo. At the beginning of this short story, Flambeau has just opened his detective agency in a new building located near Westminster Abbey. The other tenants in the building are a religious charlatan named Kalon, who claims to be "the New Priest of Apollo," and two sisters, who are typists. Flambeau and Father Brown instinctively distrust Kalon, who has installed a huge eye of Apollo outside his office.

The Sign of the Broken Sword is a short story by G. K. Chesterton featuring his famous characters Father Brown and former criminal Flambeau. At the centre of the story is the mysterious death of General Sir Arthur St. Clare, who was hanged on a tree with his broken sword hung round his neck. It is a detective story and throughout it Father Brown reveals the mystery of General St. Clare.

The Reverend Wilfred Bohun could no longer stand the scandalous behavior of his alcoholic brother Norman, who blasphemed God and humiliated the Reverend Bohun in the eyes of his parishioners. Chesterton states that Wilfred and Norman Bohun belong to an old noble family whose descendants are now mostly "drunkards and dandy degenerates." Rumor has it that there has been "a whisper of insanity" in the Bohun family.