The Black Dove

A Holmes on the Range Mystery

By: Steve Hockensmith

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

In this hilarious follow-up to Steve Hockensmith's critically acclaimed novel On the Wrong Track, crime-solving cowboys Gus "Old Red" and Otto "Big Red" Amlingmeyer are wandering around San Francisco when they stumble onto another mystery to be solved: the death of their acquaintance Dr. Chan. It turns out that no one wants this mystery solved, but that doesn't stop the brothers from riling up the locals with their heavy-handed investigations. Wild chases ensue until Old Red and his helpers finally put the clues together for a showdown on the waterfront.

Go West: listen to more Holmes on the Range mysteries.

©2008 Steve Hockensmith (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Buoyant and consistently entertaining." (Kirkus)
"Hockensmith has been nominated for the Edgar Award, and if he keeps writing like this, he'll win one soon." (Library Journal)

Funny and Different

I only have four authors web pages on my favorites tab, Steve Hockensmith is the newest one. Truly unique and lots of huge laughs. Can't wait for the next book in the series.

Fun Book!

I actually liked Hockensmith's two earlier books better than this one - but that was because both of them are so entertaining. The humor centers on the two brothers - one an illiterate would-be Sherlock Holmes, and the other a dutiful Dr. Watson. Both are fully developed characters that go far beyond the stereotypes we so often find in humor these days. These books are far superior, in my mind, to those Florida-based crime stories.

Took me by suprise

I'm a big fan of this series. They have interesting characters who are a little loony, but only a little, and a well plotted story set in the late 1800's out west. This book starts out with our Sherlock Holmes-loving, cowboys-turned-investigators brothers looking into the death of a friend in China Town in San Francisco. The boys and their comely friend, Dianna, end up contending with three other groups looking for a missing prostitute called the Black Dove. Most of the action takes place in China Town and the narrator isn't bad doing the different characters. This is an unusulaly populated book and it's a small challenge to keep all the characters straight but not too bad. Very adventerous with lots of chases and shady characters and a suprisingly emotional ending. This is one of those series that helps if you read them in order.

Sherlock revisited

I love the original Sherlock and this series of books where Sherlock becomes the hero of a cowboy is a Lot of fun. I appreciate the high moral fiber of the two brothers and the glimpse into the life and culture of the west. Fun and worth rh time.

Not my cup of tea

I could not get into the hokey golly gee sillyness of this book. Not really fair for me to review as I could not get past the first hour. If you like staring at a wall and watching paint dry you may like this book. If you have shot yourself with a nail gun more than once you may find the humor actually funny. If you think Jerry Lewis is a great actor -- you get the picture.