Customer Reviews

The Black Dove: A "Holmes on the Range" Mystery (Holmes on the Range Mysteries)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

That Hockensmith feller looks like one of them galoots who ain't satisfied less'n he's doing something different with every book. And, dagnabit, that's a good thing--long as you're not one of those folks who just wants a heap of more of the same every time out.

See, _Holmes on the Range_ was a flat-out classical mystery with a house full o' suspects. And _On the Wrong Track_ was a rollicking adventure/mystery with train robbers and runaway locomotives. Well, _The Black Dove_ is a tough-guy private eye mystery with a bit of moral ambiguity in it.

Now maybe you're figuring that there's something a little cockeyed about a humorous Dashiell Hammett film noir Sherlock Holmes Wild West Chinatown gumshoe tall tale. Well, pardner, all I can say is: it works.

Just don't expect no reruns of the other two books, plotwise. _The Black Dove_ sticks with the conventions of the shamus subgenre. The Amlingmeyer boys don't spend so much time eyeballing crime scenes or jawboning with witnesses or busting alibis or constructing timetables. Instead, the questions are: Who's got the power? Who's corrupt and who (if anyone) is straight? How can individuals stand up to powerful and ruthless groups? And that eternal classic, who wants them dead? Heck, there's even some genuine pathos in this one. (Anyone who reads my reviews regular-like--all both of you--will understand when I say that this here is a ball-of-twine plot, not a jigsaw-puzzle plot.)

Which ain't to say that all the virtues of the prior tales are gone. Big Red and Old Red are still as fine and sassy a pair of saddle pals as a feller could ask for. Me being a sucker for clever deducifyin', I'm happy to report that there's some dandy logic-chopping as well--the delightful Miz Corvus gets in a particularly fine lick or two. There's enough Holmes references to keep the conceit lively. And, of course, the setting is a good one, well rendered.

So what are you waiting for, ya darn greenhorn? Get a wiggle on, saddle up, and wrangle yourself a copy. And when you're done, you can join me in wondering: what in tarnation is Kid Hockensmith going to get up to next?

Brothers Gustav and Otto Amlingmeyer (Old Red and Big Red respectively) are spending the summer in San Francisco. An accidental encounter with Dr. Chan, a friend from their adventure on the South Pacific railroad, revels he is quite nervous about something. In fact, he shoots at Big Red before realizing who he is. So when Chan turns up dead the next morning, Old Red doesn't buy the suicide pronouncement.

Since Dr. Chan lived in the heart of Chinatown, finding out what really happened to him won't be easy. The residences don't trust white men. Their only clue is "The Black Dove." Will that and Old Red's devotion to Sherlock Holmes be enough to find out what happened to Dr. Chan?

This is the third book in the series, and these characters now feel like old friends (even if I don't appreciate their foul mouths.) Their constant bickering is fun and funny. Although the funniest scene...well, I'll leave that for you to discover. But while the book is funny, it does grow quite serious at times. This isn't light hearted fair but a serious book with some wildly funny parts. And the book wonderfully brings the world of 1893 to life.

The mystery itself is good. It did seem to drag a few times, but once the climax came it was well worth reading.

The only thing I was left wondering is where will the brothers go from here. I can hardly wait to find out.

I've always been a big fan of Sherlock Holmes. When I was a young man, I was also a big fan of Louis L'Amour. I've read both detective novels, and to a lesser extent Westerns, ever since. This current book is an attempt to combine the two genres, a weird concoction of both genres, with nods to Conan Doyle and various Western antecedents. The result is a bit uneven, and rather strange, but fun also.

It's 1893, and the Amlingmeyer brothers, Gustav (nicknamed "Old Red" for his red hair) and Otto ("Big Red", he's half a foot taller than his older brother) have decided that they should be detectives, mostly because Otto's read Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories to his brother, and the brother has decided he can "deducify" as well as the famous detective. Apparently neither of the brothers has figured out that Sherlock was fictional, and that some of his detection techniques aren't quite as workable as Conan Doyle makes them look in the books.

As this third installment in the series starts, they've washed up in San Francisco, having been fired from their first jobs as detectives on the Southern Pacific Railroad. They meet a friend from their previous adventures, a Chinese herbalist. He reacts poorly to their meeting (taking a shot at Big Red before he realizes he's with friends) then soon after winds up dead. The two brothers, joined by a female colleague from their previous adventures, decide they need to know why their friend died, and take off trying to solve the crime, certain that it was a murder.

The whole book takes place, essentially, over a day, from morning til late in the evening. The style is half-way tongue-in-cheek, speedy and somewhat wry in the humor department. Otto, the younger, literate brother, serves as the narrator of the story, while his older cohort and their female companion are the detectives. It's a bit short on premise, at times, but you wind up not caring, because the story, atmosphere, and characters are rather fun. I enjoyed it a great deal, and think it worth the trouble.

"The Black Dove" by Steve Hockensmith is his third book about the adventures of the Amlingmeyer bothers. Like "Holmes on the Range" and On the Wrong Track", it is as both funny and a good mystery.
It is the summer of 1893 and Gustav and Otto, better known as Old Red and Big Red, are job hunting in San Francisco. The two cowboys turned detective aren't having a lot of luck finding a job but they have no problem finding trouble.
It starts when they run into Dr. Chan, an acquaintance from their short time working for the Southern Pacific Rail Road (On the Wrong Track). When he is found dead the police say suicide, but Old Red says murder.
Teaming up with Diana Curvus, another (possibly) ex-agent of the Southern Pacific and prevaricator extraordinaire, they set out to find the truth.
What follows is a wild romp through China Town and that denizen of vice, the Barbary Coast. Their only clue is the missing "Black Dove", which everyone is looking for. Their search puts them up against the tongs, a Chinese detective working for the "Six Companies", and a crooked cop. They pursue and are pursued through back allies, cat houses, opium dens and other healthful places until everything and everyone comes together in a final shocking clash.
I have to say that I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as the first two, "Homes on the Range" and "On the Wrong Track". Although well written and fast paced it is written in the style of the hard boiled detective fiction of the pulp fiction era, which doesn't quite fit the 1893 background. However, it is still an excellent read and well worth the price of the hardcover edition.

In 1893 brothers Old Red and Big Red Amlingmeyer recover from their work as rail cops (see ON THE WRONG TRACK) by visiting San Francisco in order to partake of some of the city's world renowned wickedness as well as look into a personal matter. When they worked as railroad cops, the luggage of the late Dr. Chan was tossed off the train that was their beat. Knowing their hero would investigate, the siblings emulate HOLMES ON THE RANGE; albeit this time Holmes in San Francisco to determine who killed Dr. Chan and why. Joining them is former railroad sleuth Diane Corvus, who also has a personal reason to learn the truth.

The Reds assume that hired Chinese "highbinders" killed Chan, but the clues take them everywhere in the City by the Bay not just Chinatown. With local police and Chinatown's "Napoleon of Crime" assisting them Old Red and Big Red land in whorehouses where they are a bit distracted, but with Diane and Napoleon coaxing them, their escapades lead everyone into a final confrontation in which being shanghaied appears to have a greater life expectancy.

The third Holmes on the Range historical mystery is another superb zany caper as the Red siblings land in one egg drop soup after another. The humorous story line is fast-paced especially when the heroes begin to follow clues that have more twists than Lombard St. Fans of the series will appreciate the Reds' escapades as Gaslight San Francisco comes to life as rarely seen in a whodunit with a terrific insane ending.

Harriet Klausner

Hackensmith writes rollicking tales of two young brothers in the 19th Century who believe they have a talent for "deducifying" who dunnits in the crime world. In this adventure the pair become embroiled in a murder that has taken place in San-Francisco's 1890s Chinatown. As is their custom, the redheaded pair of former cowpokes seemingly walk blindfolded into a sea of troubles, in this case a Chinese physician on his way to his own assassination.

As the plot unfolds, corrupt police, gangs of street toughs, Chinese Tongs and their hatchet men, and an attractive female railroad detective enter the fray. Now, a trio, the lady and our heroes follow the clues that take them into the mysteries of Chinatown, opium dens, parlor house madams enslaving prostitutes, and brutal brushes with Chinese Tong gangs. In this fantastic mix, the attitudes and dialogue of the country pair contribute to the hilarity.

The brothers and their new lady friend triumph over all those odds by dumb, brute force, a kind of blind persistence, and keen observation of clues that is a match for contemporary CSI tv programs. Of particular value in this book is the presentation of the feelings among the early Chinese and white men which led to conflicts following the gold rush.

THE BLACK DOVE is the third entry in Hockensmith's marvelous Holmes on the Range series, sharing the adventures of two brothers, Gustav (Old Red) and Otto (Big Red) Amlingmeyer. I also had the pleasure of reading and reviewing the first two entries in the series.

In their newest adventure, the brothers have taken their detective skills to 1893 San Francisco - a den of iniquity that has few rivals in the American West. As they search for the killer of Dr. Chan - a Chinese man they'd known during their short stint working as railroad detectives - the brothers join forces with Diane Corvus. Corvus is a mysterious, sexy woman who also worked for the railroad and can keep both of the brothers guessing and tied in proverbial knots. The case leads them into Chinatown, where hatchet men, whorehouse madams, criminals and even the local police department all seem to have it in for them.

As always, Hockensmith does a phenomenal job with the period details, bringing them to life and making each chapter a pleasurable lesson in the time and the place. The mystery is satisfying, too, never giving too much away, nor keeping critical information from the reader. Like the first two in the series, I enjoyed THE BLACK DOVE quite a bit.

I did have a few niggling complaints, and these are certainly no reason to pass on buying this book, but I think they're worthy of mention. First, I think that whoever put the cover on this one must not have bothered to look at the first two. The first two covers were colorful and artistic. The cover of THE BLACK DOVE is a sepia-toned photo - and the photo bites. This is sincere disservice to the author. Second, I thought the pacing in this book was a little slower than the first two, and probably could have been tighter. Third, I'm hopeful that the next entry in the series will take the characters back into a more rural, "traditional" western environment. Both of them seemed a bit like fish out of water in a large city, where out on the range, they seemed like naturals.

All that said, THE BLACK DOVE is a fine read and another solid entry in a series that is deserving of a lot of attention and readers. Highly recommended.

This is the third in the series, and clearly the best and most
complicated "mystery" of the three. Mind you, it all made
sense when the strings were pulled together and made a
satisfying whole.

There is less of the Holmesian homage in this book than in the
previous two, but still enough to give the hard-core Holmes
fans a good handhold.

Fast-paced and very entertaining. Highly recommended.

Bought this for my husband. He listens to the book on the way to work. He loved Steve Hockensmith and looks forward to more audiobooks by him.

Steve Hockensmith has managed to give us a truly American Sherlock Holmes in Gustav Amlingmeyer, an illiterate cowboy with a mind as sharp as any academic or literary genius. Gustav notices what goes on around him and while he may not say much, what he does say is usually to the point. Gustav's younger brother, Otto Amlingmeyer, on the other hand has had schooling and plays Watson to Gustav's Holmes. In fact, they're waiting in San Francisco to see if Otto's book of their previous adventure finds a publisher, giving them money to move on. Meanwhile, Gustav is finding living in a city wears on him a bit. Otto thinks that Gustav is pining for Diana Corvus, a detective working for the railroad who'd assisted them on their last case. So, it's Otto who suggests that Gustav hone his skills in city detecting by proposing a bet...one that Gustav reluctantly agrees to. Otto is determined to win his bet and since he gets to pick the place for the contest, he leads Gustav into the heart of San Francisco's Chinatown -- a place that adds an additional layer of foreignness and discomfort to Gustav who thrives on the open plains of cattle ranches.

It's this bet that propels the brothers into a case where a false move could cost them their lives. In the course of the investigation we learn more about the brothers as they lead us through an 1893 San Francisco: the wild Barbary Coast, Chinatown, Chinese Tongs, racial tension, corrupt cops and politicians. It may have started with a chance meeting with an old friend, but Gustav can't let go -- he must find the killer and save a young girl -- the game's afoot.

I've been hooked since I read Holmes on the Range. Told from Otto (Big Red) Amlingmeyer's point of view, the narrative is cowboy vernacular, rough but a voice that speaks from the heart -- a reader can't look away because these characters are real people dealing the best they can in a world that's changing out from under them. Perhaps it's the love the brothers have for one another, perhaps it's the side-kick aspect of the stories, whatever it is -- Otto and Gustav are characters that stay with you when you close the covers of the book. Researchers say that mystery readers like to have a world where justice, not necessarily law, triumphs...where the bad guy is punished for his or her crimes. That doesn't always happen in the world Gustav and Otto live in, but nevertheless when you close the book there is a sense of satisfaction -- of a job well done, even when it's not as neat or tidy as one could wish.