The Black Dove by Steve Hockensmith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another fun adventure in sleuthing with the cowboy-detective brothers, this time in San Francisco’s Chinatown, 1893. The previous, railroad-based story does carry over to this one somewhat, but not enough to keep this from being a decent standalone book.
In this third book in the series, the brothers investigate the suspicious death of an acquaintence amidst the underworld in Chinatown. The bickering siblings with hearts of gold land themselves in plenty of tight spots, of course, and the humor is still abundant and makes up for most any deficiency. The author included more foul language this time, which I don’t mind and which I thought added a bit more realism, actually. A huge variety of supporting characters adds a little baggage, in my opinion; fewer names to keep track of would have been fine by me. Not a very satisfying ending, either, but then, neither has life. As always, looking forward to the next adventure with Gus and Otto.
© Jan McClintock of We Need More Shelves