Steve Hockensmith is an entertainment journalist who writes for The Hollywood Reporter, The Chicago Tribune, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Newsday, Total Movie, and was the editor in chief of Cinescape Magazine. He also writes a monthly column for Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine called Reel Crime, and his stories appear a few times a year in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Holmes on the Range, On the Wrong Track and The Black Dove featuring Old and Big Red.
In Hockensmith's hilarious second 1890s romp starring the cattle drovers-turned-detectives Gustav "Old Red" and Otto "Big Red" Amlingmeyer (after 2006's acclaimed Holmes on the Range), the brothers are hired as guards for the Southern Pacific, a rail line bedeviled by the "Give-'em-Hell Boys" who rob gold shipments. After baggage handler Joe Pezullo's severed head bounces from the Pacific Express, Gustav, inspired by his hero Sherlock Holmes, hopes to apply his own deductive powers to the case. In the Pullman is a collection of oddballs, including seductive suffragist Miss Diana Caveo, shady Dr. Chan and boozed-up cowboy detective Burl Lockhart. The baggage car contains even stranger cargo: a crated snake, two coffins and the self-proclaimed King of the Hoboes, dubbed "Numero Uno." Otto's uproarious narration takes us to Thornton's Boiler #2, a dilapidated saloon, where the Amlingmeyers rescue Burl and Chan from the clutches of raucous cowpunchers. As this fast-moving express hurtles toward a spectacular ending, Gustav searches for ways to apply Holmes's crime-solving genius to the comic bedlam. Author tour. (Mar.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Cowboy detectives Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer are back for a second adventure, following Hockensmith's acclaimed Holmes on the Range. This time, they are railroad cops assigned to protect a train from the Give 'em-Hell Boys. When a headless man comes bouncing out under the caboose, the action begins and never lets up until the utterly predictable train crash at the end. A cast of clich?d characters-the alcoholic old lawman, the courageous female agent, the cranky conductor, and others-keep our heroes confused as the two Reds blunder and curse their way to an action showdown straight from a B Western movie. Hockensmith's second book is neither as inventive nor as funny as his first-the bumbling cowboy shtick has gotten stale. Still, anyone who liked the first book will get some chuckles out of this tale of railroad robbery. Others may want to get off the train before it reaches its destination.-Ken St. Andre, Phoenix P.L. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
