Gustav Amlingmeyer – Old Red to those who know him – is desperate to fulfil his dream to be a professional detective, but strangely enough, most of the agencies aren’t that interested in an illiterate, Sherlock Holmes-obsessed, cowpoke. Finally Gustav and his brother Otto (Big Red) have something approximating an opportunity – as guards for the Southern Pacific Railroads.

Their trains have recently been plagued by the Give-Em-Hell gang, but Gustav has more worrying things on his mind – and coming out of his stomach. A quick trip to the back of the train is called for to relieve his motion sickness is called for, but as he leans over the rail, he spots the head of the baggage man bouncing out from under the train.

With outlaws in the hills and a killer on the train, can Big Red and Old Red bring a murderer to justice before they end up dead on the tracks?

I meant to read this, and all the rest of the series, last year as part of a personal Reading Challenge which failed at, um, the first book, Holmes On The Range. Not for want of enjoying that book – it’s a magnificently fun read – I just kept forgetting. But I needed something to boost my reading, which has been a bit slow recently, and the Amlingmeyer boys are definitely on my list for such things.

And it’s another great read. I should warn you to read this in order, as it features the debut of a character who will become important later, and if you’ve read the later books, it will spoil one surprise.

I love the concept of this series and how it pays tribute to the Holmes canon – this is set in a world where Holmes is real but is currently presumed dead. Hey, this could be the same world as the Antony Bathurst mysteries – see The Triple Bite. I’m not a fan of Holmes continuations – it does seem that everyone who have met the great detective has their own series these days – but this takes a fresh spin on paying homage to Holmes without resorting to having crimes solved by Holmes’ chimney-sweep’s butcher.

One thing – this doesn’t show Old Red at his best, as he does most of his deducifying just after the fact rather than beforehand, but he does explain what he (and the reader) should have spotted. Well, maybe guessed for some of it, as we don’t know exactly what he saw in some cases. There is more than one clever idea at the heart of things and the western setting is used very well to tell an original tale.

There’s a great finale too, as our heroes find themselves in a race against time – and the train itself – in order to save the day. It’s a mystery at its heart, but it’s also funny, exciting and oddly moving in places. Go and read the first one, and then get on board with the series. I promise, I’ll get round to The Black Dove, book three, sooner rather than later.