Reading this book is the equivalent of watching a low-budget B-movie remake of Terror by Night featuring Jim Varney as Sherlock Holmes and Junior Samples as Dr. Watson…replete with profanity. If that is the kind of schlock that appeals to you, you might want to give this book a try; all others should move on to something else. ( )

Not quite as good as the first; the western-isms in the narration and dialog feel forced sometimes, and that got on my nerves a bit. Still, a fun mystery that I'm happy to have read. ( )

The brothers try being RailRoad detectives. Old Red gets motion sickness. Train is robbed, but what for? Follow the antics and wonder, along with me, where they end up next. ( )

If you prefer mysteries to be more fun than frightening, you'll be on the right track if you read Steve Hockensmith's "On the Wrong Track" (2007). The second book in his Holmes on the Range series makes amusing reading, while at the same time presenting a compelling, fast-moving murder mystery.

Old Red and Big Red, actually Gustav and Otto Amlingmeyer, are a couple of aspiring detectives in the Old West. More accurately, Old Red (so-called simply because he is the eldest of the red-headed brothers, while Big Red is the tallest) is the aspiring detective, a devotee of Sherlock Holmes. Big Red plays his Watson, the guy who goes along, provides some muscle and then writes about the adventures afterward.

This time the brothers get jobs on the Pacific Express, a train heading West. The Southern Pacific Railroad has been plagued by a gang of outlaws known as the Give-'em Hell Boys, and the railroad wants extra protection. Of course, the gang shows up, but there appears to be a conspirator and, indeed, a murderer aboard the train. Old Red, who happens to get motion sickness on trains, is determined to solve the case anyway. As for Big Red, he seems more interested in protecting a certain young woman, who may not be quite whom she pretends to be.

Hockensmith writes some amusing lines and throws in some slapstick situations, but there's plenty of suspense, too. ( )

I read the first in this series featuring cowboy brothers Gustav “Old Red” and Otto “Big Red” Arlingmeyer in 2011. Since then, I’ve wanted to read more about this duo whose older half idolizes Sherlock Holmes and wants to model himself after him. It’s left to Otto to chronicle their adventures. In this instalment, they are hired by the Southern Pacific Railroad as detectives on a Utah to California trip, and run up against notorious train robbers.

The voice in this series is as breezy and refreshing as I remember it, albeit containing profanity of the day, but the villain in this particular piece was a little too obvious, for not being obvious, if you know what I mean. It was still fun to follow Old Red as he trailed the clues and filled in the details. 4 stars

Read this if: you’re looking for a good non-thriller mystery; or you’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes (you’ll be tickled how much Old Red tries to imitate him.) ( )