The Crack in the Lens

Steve Hockensmith's Holmes on the Range series is one of my favorites. So much so that I make myself parcel each book out very slowly. There haven't been any new ones since 2011, and I only have one left to read now. (Horrors!)

Hockensmith really gives us the flavor of the Old West in these books, and The Crack in the Lens is no exception. The trademark laugh-out-loud humor is also there. But there's a departure or two in these pages. For one thing the brothers actually have some money this time around, and hopefully the reason why will tickle you as much as it did me. Another departure is that, in this fourth book in the series, Old Red is the loose cannon and Big Red is the calm one. Odd how love can throw both Gustav Amlingmeyer and show more his idol Sherlock Holmes for a loop.

The mystery is a good one, and the killer is hiding in my favorite spot: right out in plain sight. If you like Sherlock Holmes, the Old West, humor, and a good whodunnit, take my advice. Introduce yourself to the Amlingmeyers! show less

Our heroes have come to San Marcos to find out who murdered the love of Gustav's life five years ago. The town has turned a great deal more respectable than Gustav remembers it being when he was there last. There are plenty of people who don't want the very bloody murder dragged up again and they aren't exactly shy about letting the brothers know they should high tail it out of town -- the sooner, the better.

The Crack in the Lens was a gift, the first book in this series that I've read. As far as I'm concerned, the action picked up as soon as Jack the Ripper's name got dragged in. It was all quite logical once matters got explained and the humor was engaging. I must admit that the biggest danger the brothers faced was a humdinger.

It had "Holmes" in the title - so I was a sucker for it !
The first of this series was - "Holmes on the Range"
and it was not exactly what I was expecting, but it was a hoot and although I cringed at the rather 'low' humor - couldn't help but laugh and enjoy the goofy brother and the references to Holmes, fresh twist on cowboy life and the mystery to be solved.
I'll be checking the rest of the series out of the library.
(Will apply this to the others I've read, also).
Read in 2011.

I registered this book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14171316
Clearly a case of people having different tastes. This one left me wondering. Wondering what was the point, really? Usually there is something about a good book that draws people. It can be the characters, the plot, the excitement. I'm damned if I can figure out anything here. But it could be just that my sense of humor does not match that of some others.

This is a cutesy mystery. I suppose it could come under the category of "cosy", even though there aren't any cute little old ladies or cats solving things. Instead we have "Old Red" Amlingmeyer and "Big Red" Amlingmeyer, brothers, on the trail of the killer of Old Red's lover. From five years before. show more The story takes place in the 1800s, Sherlock Holmes' time.

Big Red has been selling stories about the brothers' adventures solving crime, so the two finally have enough money to pursue Old Red's passion: find the killer of Adeline. Old Red's claim to fame is that he uses Sherlock Holmes' methods of "deductifying". Only I find no trace of his doing any deducting here. This is about as far from Holmes' methods as I could imagine. Instead, the two go around asking questions and getting embroiled in fights.

The humor relies on language as much as anything else, cowpoke language. I found it tiresome. I found the whole thing tiresome and am ready to say goodby to it. show less

The humor and relationship between Otto and Gus are the best part of this book. I have placed an advance order for the next book in the series (#5). So far I have listened to audio books (all to date for the series) and really enjoyed the experience. I'll see if I like reading the print version as much. One of the interesting aspects of this book is that Otto is starting to see his books.

This one just didn't do much for me. It didn't have the zip the others in the series did; I think it might have been the setting, at least partly. I liked the train and Chinatown settings of two of the other books a lot more. By the end it felt like nothing much had happened. Very slow going.

Got tedious halfway through the book. Hopefully the next book will revive my interest