Gustav "Old Red" Amlingmeyer is an old-fashioned kind of guy: He prefers a long trail ride even when a train ticket can get him where he's going in one-tenth the time. So when it's Old Red who insists on guarding the Pacific Axpress, despite a generations-old family distrust of the farm stealin', cattle-killin', money-grubbing' railroads, Big Red is flummoxed. But as usual, he'll follow his ornery brother just about anywhere.
1893 is 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.
A prominent citizen suffers a heart attack on opening day of a brand new boardwalk roller coaster in the seedy seaside resort town Sea Haven, New Jersey. Initially ruled a tragic accident, it isnt long before there are suspicious hints of foul play, especially after another dead body is discovered: a stunning young beach beauty. Fortunately for mystery lovers, the straight-arrow cop John Ceepak and his wise-cracking young partner Danny Boyle are on the case.
Kitty Norville, Alpha werewolf and host of The Midnight Hour, a radio call-in show, is contacted by a friend at the NIH's Center for the Study of Paranatural Biology. Three Army soldiers recently returned from the war in Afghanistan are being held at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs. They're killer werewolves - and post-traumatic stress has left them unable to control their shape-shifting and unable to interact with people. Kitty agrees to see them, hoping to help by bringing them into her pack.
"The personal stake Old Red has in catching the murderer adds an emotional dimension to the puzzle, which Edgar-finalist Hockensmith nicely leavens with witty prose and cliffhanging chapter endings." (Publishers Weekly)
Steve Hockensmith has three of these novels; they are delightful stories that are as humerous as they are intriguing. But the narration makes them all the more enjoyable. If you like some humor mixed in with your mystery and if you have a liking for the wild west, and if you think an illiterate cowboy with an affection for Sherlock Holmes is worth your time, you will love this book.
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