Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith
| Sunday, June 24, 2007 3rd Summer Mystery Reading Challenge HOLMES ON THE RANGE by Steve Hockensmith "Holmes on the Range" is Hockensmith's first novel although he has written a number of short mystery stories. In this novel, two brothers, Otis and Gustav Amlingmeyer, better known as Big Red and Old Red, are out-of-work cowboys. Big Red has learned to read and entertains his brother by reading Sherlock Holmes stories from magazines. Old Red is completely caught up by the idea of detecting. The two find employment at the Bar VR Ranch which soon turns up two dead bodies. Old Red leaps at the opportunity to solve the case. Big Red drags along in his footsteps. The story includes an evil ranch foreman and his son, an albino black man, Enligh noblefolk and an escaped convict named Hungry Bob. Big Red narrates the story with Western colloquilalisms intended to be humorous. I found it a touch annoying and most of the humor was a bit too coarse for my taste. Still, Big Red's hero worship of Sherlock Holmes was funny and the mystery itself, interesting. Rating: 3 |
# posted by Framed @ 3:07 PM 
