On the Wrong Track / Steven Hockensmith - 3***

[Book Concierge]

On the Wrong Track – Steve Hockensmith
Digital audiobook performed by William Dufris
3***

Book two in the “Holmes on the Range” series of mysteries set in the American Wild West, circa 1893. The Amlingmeyer brothers are Gustave (Old Red) and Otto (Big Red), iterant cowhands but with aspirations to become detectives. Well, Gustave has the aspirations fueled by the stories of Sherlock Holmes, and Big Red takes on the role of Watson. This time out they’ve hired on as “Pinkertons in disguise” to ride the Southern Pacific and fend off the Give-‘em-Hell Boys, a notorious gang of robbers recently plaguing the railroad.

I really like this series, and I sure do wish I hadn’t waited so long to get to this second episode. In addition to the brothers, Hockensmith populates the books with an array of interesting and colorful side characters. One of the best things about the series is Hockensmith’s way with words. Here are some examples:
”When so much is sumptuous and shining, the gaudy spectacle of it is enough to make you forget, just for a moment, the ramshackle shoddiness of your everyday world.

“I hadn’t just put my foot in my mouth – I’d dipped it in arsenic first.”

“I would say he was three sheets to the wind, only I think he had a good many more sheets a -flapping than that.”

William Dufris does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. I love the way he interprets the Amlingmeyer brothers, particularly Otto, who narrates the story.


LINK to my review