Pg. 99: Steve Hockensmith's "The Black Dove"

This weekend's feature at the Page 99 Test: Steve Hockensmith's The Black Dove.

About the book, from the publisher:

In the summer of 1893, Gustav “Old Red” Amlingmeyer and his brother Otto (a.k.a. “Big Red”) find themselves down and out in San Francisco. Though cowpokes by training, the brothers are devotees of the late, great Sherlock Holmes and his trademark method of “deducifying.” But when they set out to land jobs as professional detectives, they land themselves in hot water, instead.

First their friend Dr. Chan mysteriously takes a potshot at them, fatally wounding Big Red’s new hat. Then a secretive young woman from their past pops up and convinces them that Chan’s in trouble -- and they’re just the men to get him out of it. Unfortunately, they’re too late: By the time they track Chan down again, he’s dead. The police call it a suicide. Old Red calls that a lie. When he and his brother set out to prove it, they put themselves on a collision course with shady S.F.P.D. cops, brutal Barbary Coast hoodlums and the deadly Chinatown tongs.

Before long, all sides are in a race to uncover the secret that could rock the city. And their only clue to what’s actually going on is the enigmatic, exotic and extremely difficult to find “Black Dove.”

Among the early praise for The Black Dove:

"[Big Red’s] foot-in-a-bucket narration will keep the reader snorting with laughter... Hockensmith has been nominated for the Edgar Award, and if he keeps writing like this, he'll win one soon."
--Library Journal (starred review)

"Don’t mistake this for just Sherlock Holmes dressed up in spurs and six-guns: Hockensmith’s creations earn a genuine depth of character, and the mystery can be a delight to untangle."
--Booklist

"Rollicking... Readers will delight in the hilarious climactic ‘Mandarin standoff’ between Chinatown's underworld and Frisco's hapless police force."
--Publishers Weekly

"Buoyant and consistently entertaining."
--Kirkus Reviews

The Black Dove was one of Pierce's Picks at January Magazine as well as a Book of the Week at David Montgomery's Crime Fiction Dossier.

Read an excerpt from The Black Dove, and visit Big Red's blog to learn more about Steve Hockensmith and his writing.

Hockensmith's previous novels include Holmes on the Range and On the Wrong Track. Holmes on the Range, the first novel featuring Big Red and Old Red, was a finalist for the Edgar, the Anthony, the Shamus and the Dilys Award.

The Page 69 Test: On the Wrong Track.

My Book, The Movie: Holmes on the Range.

The Page 99 Test: The Black Dove.

--Marshal Zeringue