BLACK LIST, WHITE DEATH

HOLMES ON THE RANGE

BLACK LIST, WHITE DEATH

By Steve Hockensmith

Rough Edges Press, December 2023

This is the tenth Holmes on the Range book and the third to contain more than one story. The contents are as follows:

The novella “Black List” sees the Amlingmeyer brothers ride into the Arizona Territory on a quest to unearth a buried secret, coveted by a ruthless cattle baron. Can Old Red's deductive skills, inspired by Sherlock Holmes, solve the mystery and protect them from the cattleman's hired guns?

This is followed by the short story "Expense Report: El Paso," where Big Red embarks on his first solo mission to collect a bandit's head. But what if the head has other plans?

The final, and longest story of the three is "White Death," in which the Amlingmeyer’s investigate mysterious deaths at a tuberculosis sanitarium deep in the Colorado mountains. As they search for clues, a sinister figure lurks in the shadows. When a sudden blizzard traps them with the patients, staff, and the killer, the suspense reaches its peak.

As usual, the stories are told in the first person through Big Red, and his often-humorous observations had me laughing out loud. Each story is full of suspense and Old Red’s talent for noticing overlooked clues help in solving the mysteries they face. Having said that, Old Red doesn’t appear in Expense Report: El Paso and for most of the third story he is hidden away in quarantine leaving Big Red to do his best to unmask a killer. Can he do this alone? That’s not for me to reveal here, so you’ll just have to read the book and find out for yourselves. The three stories are all very different to each other and to any of the previous Holmes on the Range tales. 

Steve Hockensmith’s well thought-out plots had me guessing (wrongly) as to just what was going on. Even when I thought I was on the right track in Black List, I soon found myself proved otherwise. 

After that, I gave up trying to work out how each story would end and whodunnit, and just enjoyed the twisting storylines that I would have found impossible to unravel, especially the plot of White Death. The author though, has answers for all of the Amlingmeyer’s questions and everything makes perfect sense by the end. The short story had me wondering in disbelief, but the way Big Red signed off his report made everything clear…I think. 

Black List, White Death is another excellent addition to the Holmes on the Range series. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys western mysteries. 

American readers can get a copy here.
UK readers can ger a copy here.