Like many authors I’ve
featured, Steve’s favourite of his own novels is his first one: HOLMES ON THE RANGE. He says: “I think
it established everything I would try to bring to my later books: offbeat but
likeable protagonists, lots of humour that's hopefully funny without
undercutting the stakes, and an approach to genre tropes and expectations
that's both irreverent and affectionate.”
This is the first
instalment of a 6-part series. It was a finalist for the Shamus and the Anthony
Awards for Best First Novel.
Montana,
the 1890s. Two itinerant cowboy brothers, nicknamed Big Red and Old Red, are
working on a ranch when they come across a dead body, killed in a particularly
grisly fashion. Old Red has become obsessed with the stories of British
detective SHERLOCK HOLMES. He's determined to catch the killer using Holmes'
methods. Whether he likes it or not (and mostly he doesn't), Big Red is dragged
along for the wild ride as his brother tries to "deducify" his way to
the truth. But standing between them and a solution to the mystery are
stampedes, rustlers, and a cannibal named “Hungry Bob” stalking the range.
Though not the first
fictional detective, SHERLOCK HOLMES is arguably the best known. Holmes was created
by Scottish author SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (1859-1930.) Whole libraries have
been devoted to analysing Holmes, so this is a very brief and not even remotely
exhaustive take on a literary figure who has fascinated the world for almost
150 years. I’ve used Wikipedia for most of my information.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
First appearing in print in
1887's ‘A STUDY IN SCARLET’ the character's popularity became widespread
with the first series of short stories in ‘The
Strand Magazine,’ beginning with ‘A
Scandal in Bohemia.’ in 1891. In total. Doyle wrote 4 novels and 56 short
stories featuring Holmes. All but one are set between about 1880 and 1914.
Holmes as depicted in 1904
Referring to himself as a
"consulting detective", Holmes is known for his proficiency with
observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning. Most of his
adventures are narrated by his friend DOCTOR JOHN WATSON. Other re-occurring
characters in the books include Holmes’ nemesis, the criminal mastermind,
PROFESSOR MORIARTY.
At times Holmes smokes a pipe
and wears a deerstalker hat; he is also a violin player and occasional cocaine
and morphine user (both were legal in late Victorian Britain.) He lives at 221B
Baker Street, London (an address that didn’t exist until the 1920s.)
Conan Doyle felt "my
literary energies should not be directed too much into one channel” so in 1893 he
killed off Holmes in a hand-to-fight with MORIARTY over the Reichenbach Falls
in Switzerland; after a desperate struggle both men fell into the waterfall
below. However, the public response, with distressed readers refusing to let
Holmes die, was unprecedented. Conan Doyle received many protest letters, and
one lady even began her letter to him with "You brute".
After resisting public
pressure for 8 years, Conan Doyle brought Holmes back with perhaps his most famous adventure, ‘THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES.’ He would sporadically
write new Holmes stories until 1927. In his last years, the reader is told
that Holmes has retired to a small farm on the Sussex Downs and taken up
beekeeping as his primary occupation.
Tying in with HOLMES ON THE RANGE, the very first
Holmes novel, ‘A STUDY IN
SCARLET’ has a western element, as part of it takes place in late 19th
Century Utah.
Conan Doyle repeatedly said
that Holmes was inspired by the real-life figure of JOSEPH BELL, a surgeon at
the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in Scotland, whom Conan Doyle met in 1877 and worked
for. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing broad conclusions from minute
observations. Sir HENRY LITTLEJOHN, Chair of Medical Jurisprudence at the
University of Edinburgh Medical School, is also cited as an inspiration for
Holmes. Littlejohn, who was also Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health
in Edinburgh, provided Conan Doyle with a link between medical investigation
and the detection of crime.
Joseph Bell (1837-1911)
By the 1990s there were
already over 25,000 stage adaptations, films, television productions and
publications – including spin-off novels - featuring the detective. ‘Guinness World Records’ lists him as the
most portrayed human literary character in film and TV history, having appeared on screen 254 times as of 2012. Many actors have
also portrayed Sherlock Holmes in radio dramas and on stage.
The following have all had
a crack at Holmes in one medium or another: Tom Baker, John Cleese, Benedict
Cumberbatch, Robert Downey Jr., John Gielgud, Stewart Granger, Robert Hardy,
Charlton Heston, Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Raymond Massey, Ian McKellen, Roger
Moore, John Neville, Leonard Nimoy, Christopher Plummer, Robert Powell, Ian
Richardson, Robert Stephens, Orson Welles and Nicol Williamson.
I particularly like
portrayals by:
BASIL RATHBONE, in a series
of 30s and 40s films. Here Doctor Watson is portrayed by NIGEL BRUCE as a
bumbling comic foil (although he’s nothing like that in the books.)
Nigel Bruce and Basil
Rathbone
PETER CUSHING in ‘THE
HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES’ (1959) with ANDRÉ MORELL as Watson. (Cushing
also portrayed Holmes in a TV series.)
André Morell and Peter
Cushing
And JEREMY BRETT as Holmes
in a British TV series that ran from 1984 to 1994.
Reviews
of HOLMES ON THE RANGE:"Delightfully offbeat." ‘Entertainment Weekly’
"Just when it seemed as if there were no
more literary riches to be wrung from Sherlock Holmes, along comes Steve
Hockensmith's inspired debut novel...The star of this tale is a fresh
narrator's voice that whoops and hollers, dazzling the reader with colorful
language, vivid images and hilarious asides. Sherlock Holmes in a Stetson turns
out to be a dandy idea." ‘The Boston
Globe’
"Sherlockians, Western fans and mystery
lovers who enjoy their whodunits leavened with humor should all be delighted by
Hockensmith's captivating debut." ‘Publishers
Weekly’
"HOLMES ON THE RANGE is a wonderful debut novel!’
Find HOLMES
ON THE RANGE here: https://www.amazon.com/Holmes-on-the-Range-Mysteries-6-book-series/dp/B074CGRZ68?ref=dbs_m_mng_rwt_0000_ext
