Category Archives: Mystery

Steve Hockensmith’s Dog needs Ca$h!

Posted on by
2

Okay, I’ve never met Steve Hockensmith in person, nor his dog, but my experience is that he’s a pretty stand-up guy.  When I was complaining that I couldn’t get an advanced copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After, not only did he send me one, he autographed it.  When I joined twitter (begrudgingly) he became my one and only follower (so far).  When I put together a team of super-thieves for one last heist…wait, that wasn’t him… in fact, just ignore what I wrote.  No one knows who stole the Pink Panther that last time, least of all me. 

 Besides the generosity (and a deft hand with laser alarm systems), he’s a great author, especially if you’re a fan of mysteries with a touch–a heavy touch–of humour.

So, when he decided to try his hand at viral (well, lets call it medical) marketing, I said to myself, “oh yeah, I’m on-board.”

*note to Southern readers–“oh yeah” = “Hellz Ya!” 

It also helps that he’s showcasing a new short story collection.  Last time it was, Naughty: Nine tales of Christmas Crime, available as a Kindle ebook, and well worth the $2.99.  Actually, at that price, it’s a steal!  (see what I did there?)  From poisoned Fruitcake (really, is there any other kind?)and those who re-gift them to Santa’s abduction by the Soviets back in ’63, you’ll find yourself amused, entertained, and generally satisfied.

This time, it’s My Dog Needs Surgery: The Book.  As he himself put it:

Worst.  Title.  Ever. 

 Then again, it does have a certain efficiency.  His dog literally needs surgery:

“Yes, the above-mentioned “someone in need” is my dog. Her name is Amy, she’s three years old and she has luxating patella. That’s bad knees to you and me. How bad are they? Well, they occasionally pop out and go for a jaunt around Amy’s hind legs, and that’s not good. As you might have guessed from the title of the book, there’s only one way to fix this little problem — surgery. Expensive surgery.”

What better way to pay for expensive surgery than quick cash?  Steve went back through the archives and hauled out a collection of seven of his previously released short stories, plus some (seven) essays he calls, “humorous”  (no, the air quotes aren’t sarcastic–if he says they’re funny, they’re funny) and packaged them up for the low, low price of 99 cents.

Hey, is there even a “cents” sign on a keyboard?  I’ve never had to use it.

Anyhoo–win, win situation.  If you get your copy, you get a pretty decent deal, and his dog gets that much closer to paying her HMO  (actually, I have no idea how that works).  I just downloaded mine–what are you going to do?

 

While we’re at it, if you really want to help, just take a look through his catalog of work, whether it’s the Holmes on the Range series or his zombie stuff.  I imagine any royalties will help.  You can look for updates on Amy and Steve here.

The Crack In the Lens–Steve Hockensmith

Posted on by
Reply

“He knows who done it,” Old Red said.  “I’m sure of it.  All we gotta do is get him to say the name.”

“So find a way.  Another way.  Do it like Holmes would.  Use your brain.”

Gustav tried to spin away with the shears, but I managed to hold him in place.

“It’s Holmes brought us here!” he roared. “The Method ain’t workin’!”

“It’s what we got!”

 “It ain’t enough!”

The brothers Amlingmeyer are back in town!  That town being San Marcos, where Gustav once lived as a cow puncher, having loved and lost a girl named Adeleine.  She was a “soiled dove”, a working girl whose murder made less than any impact on the rough and tumble town, but plenty on the elder Amlingmeyer, who, having studied the “deducifying” ways of one Sherlock Holmes in the interim, has finally returned to town (his younger, and self-described, “handsomer” brother Otto in tow) to give her the justice she deserves.

San Marcos is not the town he remembers.  Proselytising bands of zealots roam the streets and law and order is the rule of the day.  Even the old whorehouse has been made over into a wallpaper shop.  Yet a good time is still to be had, those delving in the fleshly trade having been moved just outside city limits, beyond the reach of either God or his lawmen.

Yet lawmen are useless to the brothers Amlingmeyer.  Milford Bales, the local Marshal (and former friend of Gustav) wants them gone.  He has his own ideas as to what (or whom) befell Adeleine, and those suspicions fall (suspiciously) close to home.  Sheriff Rucker’s in the pocket of the pimps, Ragsdale and Bock, neither of whom wish the case to be re-opened.  Bad for business, you know.  Even Gustav is proving less than useful.  His normally well honed method has fallen by the wayside, and he himself is prone to conclusion jumping.  He’s off his game, and its going to take a clear head to sort things out.  Otto seems to have the only clear head around, so it’s up to him to step up and fill the position–before “Texas Jack” strikes again.

Once again, Steve Hockensmith delivers a tale full of quirky characters, from Brother Landrigan, leader of the local parish, an autonomous sect known as the Shepherd of the Hills Assembly of the Living God (whew!  That’s a mouthful), to big Bess, a whore whose name is a bit of an understatement.  Then there’s the Krieger’s, local librarians/death portrait photographers, and of course, Ragsdale and Bock, “honest” businessmen by day, the western equivalent of mobsters by night.

Gustav and Otto are also a  pair of characters, one the illiterate follower of the Holmesian method (and partial to big whiskers, ten gallon hats and angry mumbling), the other an aspiring author and gentleman with a quick wit and flair for things genteel.  A study in contrasts, Cowboy Holmes and a jovial Watson.  

The Crack in the Lens is the fourth novel in the Holmes on the Range series, and the least “Holmesian” of the bunch.  But that’s the point of the novel.  Gustav has lost “the method,” blinded by rage and grief and the desire for revenge, and it’s only when circumstances force him to follow the method that he’s able to recapture his rhythm and solve the crime(s).   I love a good mystery, especially a mystery where the culprit is not immediately identifiable, and in this, Hockensmith once again prevails.  An added twist, the addition of a Whitechapel connection, lends  a bit of intrigue to the novel.  Is Texas Jack a copycat, or the infamous Jack the Ripper, come to America to continue his spree in the relative anonymity of the open spaces of the West?

Another thing–generally, the rule of thumb when writing is to “show”, not “tell.”  But how does that work, when the narrator is telling a novel sized story?  In this case, pretty damn well.  Otto is not one for a lot of descriptive flair, but “tells” the story as if you were sitting around the campfire.  A lot of dialogue, not so much description.  That’s where the magic lies in a Hockensmith novel–witty banter rather than long-winded descriptions.

Steve Hockensmith is the author of the Holmes on the Range mysteries and both the prequel and sequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  He maintains a blog at www.stevehockensmith.com.

The Bookman–Lavie Tidhar

Posted on by
Reply

“A myth,” he said. “Oh Orphan. This is the time of myths.  They are woven into the present like silk strands from the past, like a wire mesh from the future, creating an interlacing pattern, a grand design, a repeating motif.  Don’t dismiss myth, boy.  And never, ever, dismiss the Bookman.”  ~Gilgamesh

Orphan is his namesake, living one step from the streets of what in any other age would be called Victorian England, but with the coming of Les Lezards and the subsequent fall of the house of Hannover, mad King George (the lizard) has the throne.  It is an age of wind and steam, man and automaton, order and anarchy, the last embodied in the form of a terrorist named, “The Bookman.”

When Orphan’s paramour Lucy is killed in one of the Bookman’s attacks, Orphan is devastated, but after an encounter with inspector Adler (Irene) and the Byron simulacrum, he learns that death may not be all there is, and that what small hope there is of recovering his beloved lies in running the Bookman to ground.  Barring that…vengeance.

There are many forces at play in his majesty’s empire: Prime Minister Moriarty and the Lizards; Mycroft Holmes’ shadow government floating high above London in their black airships; the Turk, an automaton among automatons who yearn for the translation, a device that they hope will make them equal to their fellows of flesh and blood; and of course, Orphan.  All believe the Bookman (or his death) holds the answer to their various problems and that Orphan is a tool to be wielded in that pursuit.

Yet when Orphan finally finds the Bookman, he is offered a choice.  Help his nemesis to stop Les Lezards from launching a device into space that may be mankind’s salvation (or doom) and Lucy shall be returned, hale and unharmed.  Don’t help, and Lucy is lost forever.  Really not much of a choice for a young man in love.

From the heart of Britannia to the depths of the Caribs, Orphan journeys on his mission, beset by danger and double dealings, culminating in one final meeting with the Bookman, which will either see Lucy returned to him or  the destruction of that which the Bookman covets the most.

The Bookman is everything one would want out of a Steampunk novel, blending both science fiction and fantasy, historical and fictional personages, all with a twist on the original source materials.  Irene Adler is now an agent of Scotland Yard, Moriarty is Prime Minister, and Jules Verne is both author and adventurer.  Lord Byron is a simulacrum, Karl Marx a revolutionary, and then there’s  Orphan, who has a greater role to play in the Empire than ever he could guess. 

Sometimes though, it felt as though the writing had a tendency to meander.  I spent a lot of time reading of Orphan wandering the streets of London moping about his lost love when (for my part) I’d rather just see the story advance.  It’s not really wasted narrative, but sometimes slowed the story to a crawl.  Tidhar also has a habit of skipping forward in the narrative and writing scenes in retrospective.  There is a moment near the end of the novel where Moriarty and Orphan come face to face…and next you know Orphan is on the run with no real explanation of what happened.  When it does get explained, what seems like it should be a pivotal moment simply comes across as trite.

There is also surprisingly little interaction with the lizards during the course of the novel, but the one time we meet one, it is a pirate named Wyvern, and he is entirely unforgettable.  More lizards please!

As for the Bookman and Les Lezards, when their background is finally revealed, I was pleasantly surprised to find that what was at first a fantasy novel had somehow morphed into science fiction with fantastical elements. 

The Bookman does leave a little too much unfinished by the end of the novel, but also leaves the reader (at least this one) with a desire to read more of Orphan’s exploits and to explore the Universe Lavie Tidhar has created.  Luckily for us, it is the first of a series of three, continuing with Camera Obscura  and the forthcoming The Great Game.  All in all, The Bookman is a wonderful novel and what minor flaws I’ve mentioned are just that– minor.

Lavie Tidhar maintains his own blog if ever you’d like to check out what’s new in his world.

Holmes on the Range revisited!

Posted on by
Reply

Wow, seems like only last week that I was re-directing interested readers to Steve Hockensmith’s blog to find their copy of the first Holmes on the Range short story featuring the Amlingmeyer brothers…wait…it was, wasn’t it?

At the time I was ecstatic to be able to read an original (to me, anyway) short story about Gustav (Old Red) and Otto (Big Red) Amlingmeyer and their adventures sleuthing in the old West.  Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (if my contacts at Wikipedia are accurate), these stories have not been available to those without a subscription stretching back to 2003.  Having jumped on the Holmes on the Range chuckwagon only recently, I’d lamented ever getting a chance to complete the series.

Until now.  

After conducting a poll of his faithful readers as to what an anthology of Holmes on the Range stories should be called, the final version will be called, “Dear Mr. Holmes: Seven Holmes on the Range Mysteries.”

According to Steve’s post on the subject, the new anthology should be available as either an e-book or dead tree version sometime in March 2011.

Year of the Vampire! Anno Dracula reissued.

Posted on by
Reply

Several years ago a friend introduced me to Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula, a marvellous little tale of alternate Britain, one where Van Helsing and company failed their attempt to kill one Vlad Tepes (a.k.a. “Dracula”) , with unfortunate results both for the vampire hunters and the British realm.  Several years later Vampire and Human live exist side by side in Victorian London and Scotland Yard is dealing with the mystery of the “Ripper”, a serial killer whose victims all come from the underclass working girls of Whitechapel.  The undead ones, that is.

I had to borrow his dog-eared copy and was disappointed to find out that not only was Anno Dracula out of print, but that copies were disturbingly hard to come by.  So, it is with great pleasure that I discovered Titan Books  intention to reissue a print of Newman’s remarkable work.  Scheduled for a May 3rd, 2011 release, Anno Dracula will be a welcome addition to the bookshelves of any horror reader.

For a first look at the new cover, either look up…or check out the Titan Books blog posting!

Steve Hockensmith celebrates the Publication of World’s Greatest Sleuth with a gift to the fans.

Posted on by
2
Steve Hockensmith courtesy of Central Crime Zone

Okay, if you’ve come here today looking for a sneak peek of Steve Hockensmith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After, well, you’re about to be disappointed.  My best efforts to obtain an advanced copy to review have come to naught.  Something to do with Quirk not willing to ship to Canada, I think.  (I know, I know, I’m disappointed too!)  It’ll be published in late March (March 22, 2011 to be exact), so at least our mutual disappointment will be short-lived.

 
If you’re here and you’ve never heard of the Holmes on the Range series of mysteries, well then, SHAME ON YOU!  Run down to your local bookstore/library/computer and buy, borrow or download yourself copies of the entire series.  THE ENTIRE SERIES.  Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
 
However, if you’re here because you’re a fan of the Amlingmeyer brothers (Otto and Gustav) and their sleuthing adventures in latter part of the 19th century, well now, you’ve come across a bit of luck.  Just this past January the fifth book in the series, World’s Greatest Sleuth, was published, continuing the tale of brothers Big Red (Otto) and Old Red (Gustav), two cowboy/detectives with a penchant for trouble and a fascination with their compatriot from across the water, one Sherlock Holmes.
 
To celebrate the publication of this newest book, Hockensmith has decided to favour his fans with a little freebie, the first story featuring the brothers Amlingmeyer, dear-mr-holmes . 
 
You can also follow Steve’s musings and schedule at his blog site, www.stevehockensmith.com.