Holmes on the Range ~ Steve Hockensmith

Funk Rating: 8 out of 10*

I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan -- have been since I was a kid. If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes, I think you'll really enjoy this book. If you also love the old West, and have a soft spot in your heart for cowboys and ranches, you will likely LOVE this book.

This is one of those incredibly clever, very fun, extremely well written books that will be a treat for some and fall flat for others. It's a who-dunnit murder mystery (several actually) set in a time over a hundred years ago. The language is brilliant and the clues are subtly laid down across dialog and scenes that are straight from the early days of huge ranches owned by Englishmen investing in the "New West", drifting cowboys (punchers), and hard times. Having just spent a week this past summer at a dude ranch in Wyoming, I loved every western phrase and the whole cowboy setup.

Parts of this book reminded me of The Final Solution by Michael Chabon, but only in the sense that I'm delighted to find well-written stories that harken back to the time when observation and a focused mind solved mysteries. The hero in this story has a touch of Columbo in him, for he's humble and unpretentious, yet asks the right questions, is troubled by small inconsistencies, and has a mind sharper than most.

If you share the love of "deducifying" a mystery, give this book a shot.

* if you don't care for Sherlock Holmes, or the old west, I can't imagine you'd enjoy this book...