The Valley Of Fear

2 Pages 405 Words

The Valley of Fear is a work of fiction written by Sir Author Conan Doyle. It takes place in the late 1800’s. The story describes the accounts of a man by the names of Jack Douglas, McMurdo, and Birdie Edwards. The man by these previously mentioned names is a detective following an evil organization entitled the “Eminent Order of Freeman”. Birdie Edwards is a Pinkerton detective, which is an elite group of detectives in the world. Edwards tracks the “Eminent Order of Freeman” to the Vermissa Valley and lives there under the name of McMurdo. Birdie Edwards eventually traps the evil men of the organization and puts them in jail. However, after he moves to England to settle down with his wife, Ted Baldwin, who was a man of which Birdie Edwards sent to jail, attempts to murder Edwards who is under the name of Jack Douglas. During the skirmish between Edwards and Baldwin, Edwards kills Baldwin in self-defense. Throughout Edwards’s adventures, he uses many techniques that are used today in the detective field of work.
One detective technique Birdie Edwards uses is “going under cover”. In order for Birdie Edwards to be successful on his mission to take the “Eminent Order of Freeman” down, he must get involved in their society. Edwards does this by having a forged recommendation from his base in Chicago. However, although Birdie Edwards is in this evil organization, he does not take part in any of the activities. Instead of doing these evil things, Edwards makes the society think he is one of them just by his psychological thinking.
One technique that Edwards uses is the changing of the name he goes by. Throughout the novel Edwards uses three different names including Birdie Edwards, McMurdo, and Jack Douglas. Changing identities are very important in operating “under cover”. Especially if one changes his or her name in the 1800s, then basically no one will know who one is because news did not tra...