- MP3 CD
- Publisher: Tantor Media; Unabridged,MP3 - Unabridged CD edition (Mar 1 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1400152259
- ISBN-13: 978-1400152254
- Product Dimensions: 19 x 17.3 x 1.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 136 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#679,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #29 in Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Audiobooks > MP3 CD
- #98 in Books > Business & Investing > Audiobooks > MP3 CD
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Award-winning narrator William Dufris gives a virtuoso performance on this enormously entertaining tale of Gustave "Old Red" Amlingmeyer, a Montana cowboy who dreams of being a western Sherlock Holmes. When mysterious murders occur on the ranch where he and his brother are working, Old Red sees his chance and immediately sets out to sniff out the culprit. The story is told in first person by the would-be detective's kid brother, Otto ("Big Red"), and with an authentic western drawl Dufris slips into the role as comfortably as an old pair of cowboy boots, conveying Big Red's amiability and frequent befuddlement as he struggles to keep up with his older brother's "deducifyin' ". Dufris creates believable, distinctive voices for a large and colorful cast—among them the gravel-voiced ranch foreman, a Cockney cowboy, a pompous English duke and his ladylike daughter and a Swedish cook—and does it so well that a listener might well believe he's listening to a full troupe of actors. A truly gifted narrator, memorable characters and a tale full of adventure and humor—what more could an audiobook fan ask for?
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* The Amlingmeyer brothers--Big Red, our narrator, and Old Red--grabbed a job at the mysterious Bar-VR Ranch to avoid a winter without food or money. One of the hands at the ranch is found with a bullet in his brain and another ends up seemingly trampled, but no one can recall a stampede. The shadowy miscreants had best watch their backs, however, as the Amlingmeyers are not your ordinary cowpokes. Old Red can't read but has been entertained trailside by Big Red's reading Sherlock Holmes stories from Harper's Weekly. Old Red thus considers himself a budding master of what he calls "deducifyin'." With Old Red as a six-gun Holmes and Big Red as a skeptical, nervous Watson, the pair ferrets out the killers and motives from a colorful cast of characters with names such as Puddin-Foot, Tall John, and Swivel-Eye. The Amlingmeyers have graced the pages of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and their initial book-length case is every bit as memorable. At times, they may remind readers of Joe Lansdale's Hap Collins and Leonard Pine with their smart mouths, penchant for trouble, and unflagging loyalty to each other. This is a great reworking of the Holmes conceit, and one suspects Hockensmith will have a steady readership as long as the Amlingmeyers are on the case. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Fun Read,
By Mystery Maven (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Holmes on the Range (Paperback)
It's been a while since I have enjoyed reading a mystery this much, and that's saying something, as I usually go through one mystery novel a week. The mystery genre is reaching out to embrace other genres--so we have mystery-horror, for example, with vampire detectives; mystery-romance, in the Harlequin Intrigue line, and mystery-fantasy and mystery sci-fi, by the late Isaac Asimov and others. Mr Hockensmith has now contributed a believable mystery-western. And he's done it with two delightful and entirely real characters: the Amlingmeyer brothers, Gustav ('Old Red') and Otto ('Big Red'). These two cowboys are so entertaining, I can see them easily starring in a series.Not content with creating a believable mystery-western combo, with this first novel in the series, Mr Hockensmith also references the Holmes canon. The elder brother, Old Red, fancies himself as the Holmes of the American West, as he emulates his hero's 'deducifying' skills. Accompanied by his Watson, brother Big Red Amlingmeyer, cowboy Old Red sets out to solve the mysterious deaths happening on a run-down ranch in the old west. This is a really fun read, with two entertaining and endearing characters. And with one more book in the series out in hardcover, and another expected in February 2008, I am predicting a long series run
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars (52 customer reviews) 20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just Plain Fun,
By Richard A. Mitchell "Rick Mitchell" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Holmes on the Range (Hardcover)
This book makes the reader smile on every page. It is not laugh out loud funny, but consistently amusing throughout. The narrator, one of the two brothers who are at the center of the yarn, is a comedian - if he does say so himself.The Amlinger brothers, Big Red (narrator) and Old Red, are cowboys. Big Red has read Sherlock Holmes stories to his older brother who can not read and Old Red has taken them to heart. The brothers go to work on a ranch known for its nefarious bosses. A body is found. Apparently, the man was killed in a stampede. Old Red doubts it and the Holmesian hunt is on...Old Red goes deducifyin'. This is a true mix of a western and a Sherlock Holmes type Mystery. Mr. Hockensmith catches the flavor of both tremendously with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek attitude so the depiction of neither genre is "over the top". There are more amusing, and apt, metaphors in this book than any other I have ever read. They were amusing to read and I found myself looking forward to the next one, which was never a long wait. The characters, especially the brothers are very good. The supporting cast varies from drovers to evil foremen to an English duke, who, of course has met Holmes and hates him, and a damsel. Lastly, the plot was a good one. Like Holmes, Old Red is always a step ahead of his brother/Watson and the reader. He, of course, wraps it all up in the end. There are a number of Holmes knock-offs and books about Holmes after retirement, etc. out there. This is not one. Holmes is merely Old Red's hero. Mr. Hockensmith then concocts a Holmes-like mystery told in a western twang. Holmes fans will not be offended since he is only an inspiration to this amateur sleuth. Highly recommended. This is a decent mystery that light-heartedly combines the features of Sherlock Holmes and dime westerns. 11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sherlock Holmes inspired Old West mystery,
By Cory D. Slipman - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Holmes on the Range (Hardcover)
Steve Hockensmith's debut novel "Holmes on the Range" is an amusing Conan Doyle inspired mystery set in the untamed frontier of 1893 Montana. The book chronicles the exploits of the Amlingmeyer brothers Gustav and Otto, known as Old Red and Big Red. The brothers were itinerant cowboys, a result of a series of tragedies that wiped out their entire German immigrant family in rural Kansas. Before flood waters and smallpox decimated the Amlingmeyer family, the illiterate Gustav set out to make a living as a cow puncher. The younger Otto, the narrator of this tale, received some education and worked as a granary clerk. A resulting flood wiped out the whole family, save Otto, who joined up with his brother on the range.They were currently employed as dollar a day cowhands on the Bar VR cattle ranch in Montana. When they accidently came across the apparently stampeded body of what was believed to be the ranch manager named Perkins, curiosity got the better of them. Gustav, a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes, began to investigate the death in typical Holmes fashion looking for clues. The ranch was now being run by a pair of unsavory and underhanded brothers the McPhersons, Uly and Spider. The ranch soon became the locus of a new wider array of suspects into the strange occurrences at the ranch. The owner of the ranch, the English Duke of Balmoral arrived with his entourage just days after the unfortunate demise of the manager Perkins. This arrival was soon followed by the shooting death of top ranch hand Boudreaux, an albino Negro, under some very queer circumstances. Old Red (Gustav) aided by Big Red (Otto) were allowed to shirk their ranch duties by the Duke in order to investigate the crimes. The Duke, an inveterate gambler had as his motivation, a 200 pound wager he made with his young associate Brackwell, son of an English earl. The Duke bet that Old Red and Big Red couldn't provide a plausible explanation for the mysterious deaths before the arrival of the authorities. Using Holmesian deductive reasoning the Amlingmeyer brothers eventually found the answers to the mysteries on the Bar VR ranch. Author Hockensmith has a bright future should he continue to write about the exploits of Old Red and Big Red. 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Pretty Decent Debut, I Reckon,
By Mark Baker - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Holmes on the Range (Paperback)
Old Red and Big Red are the last two members of their family. With nothing to tie them down, the brothers drift from place to place looking for work.That's how they come to find themselves in Montana during the winter of 1893. Times are hard and the two are reduced to waiting out the winter hoping to get hired once spring round up starts. But one day, the foreman of the Bar VR ranch offers them jobs. Despite the rumors of something mysterious happening there, the two take the jobs. Or maybe it is because of the rumors. See, Old Red has recently heard some of the stories about Sherlock Holmes and has become enthralled with the idea of solving a case of his own. The brothers arrive with the other men hired at the time and find themselves confined to the area around the massive ranch house. But Old Red still finds every excuse he can to sniff out clues. But when the ranch manager dies in a stampede, it looks like he'll have a chance to truly play detective. No matter what else is said about this book, you've got to admit it is fun. The brothers are wonderful characters and their relationship brings plenty of laughs, as does Big Red's narration. The plot gets a little bogged down in the middle, but everything does come together for a compelling climax. And what a cast of characters - you've got English nobility, a wannabe cowboy, real cowboys, and a Swedish chef. The book does contain more foul language then I normally like, and I could have done without the fart jokes. But they only dampened my enjoyment slightly. This book easily blurs genre lines. If you enjoy Westerns or mysteries, you'll enjoy it. |
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