The Valley Of FearBy Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by Tim Aldrich
22 MP3 Files - Approx 6 Hours 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: PinkGeekAudio.net
Podcast: 2005
Themes: / Mystery / Sherlock Holmes / Secret Societies / Organized Crime /
The Valley Of Fear is one of the least adapted of the original Sherlock Holmes novels, it has only appeared on screen three times, as opposed to the eighteen adaptations of The Hound Of The Baskervilles. Likely much of the reason for the disparity lies in the structure of The Valley Of Fear, which breaks the traditional narrative mystery to go into a massive backstory that preceded the crime in question, this backstory includes neither Watson nor Holmes and so when adapted it would have the primary characters off-screen for more than half the film!
Looked at as a novel and a mystery on its own The Valley Of Fear works very well. There are in fact two mysteries in it. The first mystery I was able to ratiocinationalize quite satisfactorily but the second which took me by surprise, it was by means of a clever misdirection. The story itself is set in 1888 London and in the USA a few years prior to the extended flashback sequence. In the first half of the novel Holmes and Watson employ their typical inductive detection strategy, then after solving the primary crime we are treated to a lengthy explanation as to how the murder they have solved came to happen in the first place. The second half, was inspired by true events and is quite enjoyable once you get into the change of pace.
Now to the audio production itself. This is an all amateur production, the reader is just a guy, not a professional reader. Tim Aldrich, has no interest in editing, re-reading flubbed lines or even eliminating background noises. You can hear phones ringing, people coughing animals and street noises. That said the recording volume is decent and I never missed a word he spoke (or misspoke). Aldrich only a partial ability to do an English accent. He puts on a deep basso for Watson and uses his more natural speaking voice for Holmes. This is really amateur hour recording. But on the other hand he's enthusiastic and he's doing it at a terrific pace! Tim Aldrich has already recorded A Study in Scarlet, The Adventures of Sherlock, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Last Bow and The Sign of Four! I'm loath to admit this, given I consider myself such an audiophile, but Tim Aldrich can teach a lesson to us all - enthusiasm and genuine drive to voice a story can make up for a whole lot of background noises, flubbed lines and mediocre accenting. I enjoyed the heck out of this FREE novel. Keep up the great work Tim!
posted by Jesse
Looked at as a novel and a mystery on its own The Valley Of Fear works very well. There are in fact two mysteries in it. The first mystery I was able to ratiocinationalize quite satisfactorily but the second which took me by surprise, it was by means of a clever misdirection. The story itself is set in 1888 London and in the USA a few years prior to the extended flashback sequence. In the first half of the novel Holmes and Watson employ their typical inductive detection strategy, then after solving the primary crime we are treated to a lengthy explanation as to how the murder they have solved came to happen in the first place. The second half, was inspired by true events and is quite enjoyable once you get into the change of pace.
Now to the audio production itself. This is an all amateur production, the reader is just a guy, not a professional reader. Tim Aldrich, has no interest in editing, re-reading flubbed lines or even eliminating background noises. You can hear phones ringing, people coughing animals and street noises. That said the recording volume is decent and I never missed a word he spoke (or misspoke). Aldrich only a partial ability to do an English accent. He puts on a deep basso for Watson and uses his more natural speaking voice for Holmes. This is really amateur hour recording. But on the other hand he's enthusiastic and he's doing it at a terrific pace! Tim Aldrich has already recorded A Study in Scarlet, The Adventures of Sherlock, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Last Bow and The Sign of Four! I'm loath to admit this, given I consider myself such an audiophile, but Tim Aldrich can teach a lesson to us all - enthusiasm and genuine drive to voice a story can make up for a whole lot of background noises, flubbed lines and mediocre accenting. I enjoyed the heck out of this FREE novel. Keep up the great work Tim!
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