The Valley of Fear by
Arthur Conan Doyle
Part 2, Chapters 6–8 [the end]
Well, I enjoyed that a good deal more than its reputation would suggest. It's still probably the lesser of the four novels, and so short that it barely warrants calling that; and the Sherlock Holmes-starring first part is really an aggrandised short story, which could have been considerably brisker if it didn't repeat iself so often; and the second half is very pulpy, not that that's necessarily a bad thing. So, perhaps it borders on "guilty pleasure" territory, but hey, at least I enjoyed it.