The House of Fear (novel)

The House of Fear is a mystery novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring the character Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in the United States in Collier's Weekly from December 30, 1927, to May 5, 1928, and in book form in 1928. It is one of the later stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon.

The plot revolves around the investigation of a series of mysterious deaths at Drearcliffe House in Scotland. Residents of the house, all members of a strange society, are being killed in bizarre and seemingly impossible ways. Holmes and Watson are called in to unravel the mystery and determine whether the deaths are the result of suicide pacts, accidents, or murder.

The novel is notable for its atmosphere of suspense and the locked-room mystery elements inherent in the plot. It utilizes misdirection and deduction to arrive at its conclusion, a hallmark of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Though not always ranked among the very top Holmes tales, it is still considered a significant contribution to the detective fiction genre. The central mystery is ultimately revealed to be the work of a cunning and ruthless antagonist who meticulously plans the deaths, creating an illusion of supernatural or impossible circumstances.