Holmes on the Range (Holmes on the Range Mysteries)

from James:

I have no idea how the cowboys of 1890's Montana talked, but I'd like to imagine it's exactly like the ones in this book. Hockensmith pushes out some snappy dialogue and clever images, like: it was raining hard enough to wash off a tan off a man's hands.

The detective pair in this first book of a series are the Amlingmeyer brothers, Big Red and Old Red. One's illiterate and other is his Dr. Watson. Equal parts mystery and western, I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys either.

Old Red Amlingmeyer and his younger brother, Big Red, have just been hired at the Bar VR Ranch. It's not a very pleasant place, but a job's a job. One day, though, the boys come across the aftermath of a cattle stampede---complete with the aftermath of a man. How did this fellow meet his demise? Old Red is itching to employ his detective skills, as adopted from the tales of Sherlock Holmes. With Big Red as his Watson, "Holmes" is on the range!

Overall the book met my expectations. The narrator, Big Red, is an amusing enough type, and he definitely fits the Watson mould, while Old Red is the archetypal Holmes: laconic, pensive, but capable of quick action when necessary. The mystery and setting kept my interest, and it was very charming show more to see cowboys faithfully following the precepts of Watson and Holmes. However, the book is just over 300 pages and the pacing felt a bit slow. It may have worked better if it were slightly shorter (maybe 250 pages).

This is the first in a series and I think I'd probably pick up another one if I saw it at the library. show less

First Line: There are two things you can't escape out here in the West: dust and death.

When brothers Old Red (Gustav) and Big Red (Otto) Amlingmeyer sign on as ranch hands at a spread known for being secretive, the only things they're expecting are lots of hard work, plenty of bad pay, and a bit of free time to enjoy reading their favorite stories about Sherlock Holmes. When a couple of men turn up dead, Old Red sees it as the perfect opportunity to employ his "deductifyin'" skills, and he sets out to solve the case. Although he doesn't like the looks of it one little bit, Big Red is along for the ride.

If you read a lot of crime fiction, you know that there are some prime directives. One of them has to do with the disposition of the show more corpse. This book is so good that I forgot all about that basic rule.

Author Hockensmith has come completely out of left field and scored a home run with this tale of two brothers in the Old West. Old Red was the oldest brother who worked hard to keep food on the table for his mother and younger siblings. As a younger brother, Big Red stayed home and had schooling. He knows how to read and write-- something his older brother never had the chance to learn. The stories of Sherlock Holmes fires the imagination of Old Red, and he believes that this is something he can do even if he doesn't have an education. If he can observe and deduce, he can be every bit as brilliant as the grand detective. Big Red has a rather jaundiced view of the whole thing:

"Damn it, Brother," I said. "You're a cowboy, not a detective."

Old Red didn't answer with words. He just turned and showed me that little wisp of a grin he slips under his mustache when he thinks he's being clever.

Oh? his smile said. A feller can't be both?

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale. Hockensmith has a unique voice and vision, and I can't wait to read the further deductifyin' adventures of Old Red and Big Red. show less

Some Sherlock Holmes-inspired cowboys do some deducifyin' and I had some good fun following along.

The Amlingmeyer brothers are the last survivors of their once-big family, so brawny "Big Red" Otto and his brother "Old Red" Gustav stick together as they travel the west picking up cowboy work wherever they can. They enjoy keeping an eye out for new editions of Harper's that contain the latest of Dr. Watson's accounts of his adventures with detective Sherlock Holmes, who Gustav admires so much that he takes his methods as a model. He might not be educated, but he's smart, and he plans to show it.

He gets his chance when some overseers from a notoriously awful ranch ask for seasonal hired help. Unfortunately the rules of the ranch don't show more provide a lot of leeway for poking around: the hands have to stay together within five miles of the "castle", the ostentatious big house with its bunk houses and barns, unless accompanied by one of the few old hands. Old Red's mystery goes from potential to present when the ranch manager gets trampled in a stampede and the ranch's British owners (who have a loose connection to one of Holmes's cases) show up for a surprise inspection soon after. The trampling might seem suspicious to Old Red, but it's a hard sell as a murder...but the body in the outhouse with a bullet in its brain is undeniable.

Hockensmith's fast-paced story is recounted to us by Big Red, the younger but bigger brother who is, for some reason, the only one of the two who can read and write. (I say "for some reason" because there's no given reason why he couldn't have taught the demonstrably intelligent Old Red to read and write as well. But hey, it's a nice wrinkle in the story.) He's got a sense of humor that's cowboy-rude and rough around the edges, and which brought a lot of levity to prevent this from becoming a dreary, gritty western. The case itself ranges far and wide, encompassing a clownish but sincere wanna-be cowboy, the classy Lady Clara, and her domineering father the Duke; a cannibalistic outlaw and some hairy hybrids on the loose; and a rowdy cast of groundling characters including a Swedish cook, the colorfully-nicknamed fellow ranch hands, and the Lady's gossipy maid.

It also, to its detriment, includes an unnecessarily albino antagonist (the albinism plays absolutely no role in the story, so it just perpetuates the association of albinism with bad guys), a few n-bombs, and some highly insensitive language about women and American Indians. The latter might be historically accurate, but they are also demonstrably unnecessary: Hockensmith several times has Big Red talk around foul language and rude comments with phrases to the effect of "I won't bother decent folk by repeating what exactly I heard", which are at baffling odds with those that are spelled out.

Anywho...

This was a fun and light romp, the kind that might not have been much of a mystery to me in the actual who-done-it, but which had plenty of slapstick action, rough-and-tumble talk, and side mysteries to keep me well entertained. The Amlingmeyer brothers are quite a pair, and I certainly enjoyed the way Sherlock Holmes was woven into this story only in reference more than I liked his presence in The Bughouse Affair. I won't go out of my way to pick up the sequels, but I'd happily pick one up if I found it a little free library or used book sale. show less

Digital audio narrated by William Dufris
3.5***

From the book jacket: It’s 1893, a tough year in Montana, and any job is a good job. When Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer sign on as ranch hands at the secretive Bar VR cattle spread, they’re not expecting much more than hard work, bad pay, and a comfortable campfire around which they can enjoy their favorite pastime: scouring Harper’s Weekly for stories about the famous Sherlock Holmes.

My reactions
Well, this was a hoot and a half! I loved the brothers Big Red (Otto) and Old Red (Gustav) and how they worked together. Big Red narrates, as he is the more educated of the two, being able to read and write. But Old Red is the real fan of Holmes and his methods of observation and deduction, show more and it is he who finally solves the murder.

Hockensmith liberally sprinkles the text with colloquialism and colorful cowboy metaphors, and includes a host of memorable supporting characters (loved the Swedish cook!). The mystery plot was sufficiently complicated to keep me guessing right up to the reveal.

I’ll keep reading this series.

William Dufris does a marvelous job of performing the audiobook. He has a gift for voices / dialects and I particularly enjoyed his interpretation of the Swede, show less

#1 in the ‘Holmes on the Range’ historical mysteries series, set in 1890’s Montana. Features “Big Red” Otto Amlingmeyer and his brother “Old Red” Gustav, who are wandering cowboys who take temporary jobs offered by different ranches, and in this book they’re hired by Uly MacPherson, manager of the Castlemere Ranche, commonly known as the Bar VR. It’s not an assignment they’d normally take, as the MacPherson brothers and the Bar VR don’t exactly have a great reputation, but Old Red takes the job for two reasons. One, the Amlingmeyer brothers are about out of money, and two, Old Red fancies himself a bit of a detective and he smells a mystery afoot.

Though Old Red doesn’t read, Big Red does, having been the one show more member of their family sent off to school and having done some clerking in his time. And what Big Red reads to Old Red around the campfire are Sherlock Holmes mystery stories! Old Red loves ‘em and often uses Holmes’ ‘deducifyin methods’ and keen observation to ferret out the answers to questions that most folks haven’t even thought to ask. And he’s right about a mystery afoot, for as quick as you can say beans and bacon, there’s two dead bodies and a host of foreigners moving in to Castlemere, and Old Red aims to figure out whodunit.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and for once I can easily understand why it was a finalist for so many different mystery awards the year it was published. (It’s not all THAT often that I agree with the people who make those decisions. LOL) The characterizations felt real to me and I got to know Big and Old Red quite well early on, and the secondary characters were also diverse and well-fleshed. I also liked that the ‘voices’ of these cowboys seemed to be very realistic and no effort was made to pretty them up—for example, one of the characters in the book is a black man, and there is rather liberal use of the “n” word, which although not pleasant, was common at the time as a part of normal everyday speech. So I guess I should add the caveat that if such things offend you, it’s probably best to avoid this book. While I am not generally a fan of this time period nor a fan at all of so-called westerns (there I go again, jumping out of my niche! LOL) I loved this book and am glad that I’ve already got the second one in the series here on my shelf. show less

Gustav and Otto Amlingmeyer are a pair of Montana cowboys in 1893. Gustav has become enamored of the Sherlock Holmes stories being printed in Harper's Weekly. Thoughtful and observant, he is determined to try his hand at emulating his hero and making more of himself than a simple cow puncher. Otto, big, strong, loyal to a fault is, well, the perfect Watson stand in. The two are hired to work on a ranch run by secretive and harsh managers and, when bodies start showing up, Gustav finds the opportunity he desires…assuming they aren't killed first.

The blending of the detective and western genres works very well in Hockensmith's hands and the result is a fun, light-hearted and funny story that only aims to provide some entertainment, and show more succeeds. show less