World's Greatest Sleuth! (36 page)

She wasn’t even cracking a smile. I stifled both my sigh and, just barely, the urge to retreat to the window with Old Red and Diana.

This was the pinnacle of my brother’s life in every way you might name. He’d come further and risen higher than either of us could have dreamed. In fact, it was hard to imagine things ever looking better for Gustav than they did right then, in that bright, hopeful moment with all the world stretched out before him, and Diana Crowe at his side.

So I stayed back. I wanted to give my brother every second I could to just glory in it until the wheel turned again, and the view changed.

A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wishes to thank:

Rex Stout and Anthony Shaffer—for inspiration.

Crafty Keith Kahla, editor extraordinaire—for opening doors.

Elyse Cheney, agent par excellence—for blasting through barriers.

Jonathan Turner and Robin Holly, volunteer/draftee story consultants—for saving me from myself.

India Cooper and Bob Berkel, copy mavens—for saving me from myself some more.

Adam MacFarlane, Aldo Calcagno, Ashley Edward Miller, Bob Bartlett, Bob and Nancy Ortmann, Chris Jonard, Dan Amsden, David Kuskie, Don Collins, J. Steven York, James T. Allerton, Jen Forbus, Jenn Highfill, Jennifer Garlen, Jennifer McKenzie, Jeremy Lynch, Joan Gallo, Joee Bonee, Judy Bobalik, Julie Bestry, Lauren O’Brien, Lee Nelson, Linda Manning, Linda McMaken, Mark Baker, Matthew Szewczyk, Patti O’Brien, Rhoda DeCruz, Richard Prosch, Ron and Sandi Hockensmith, Sarah Theubet, Shanna Derringer, Shawn D. Hilton, Stefan Nissen, Stella Mattioli, and the whole danged Posse—for buying this book. (You did buy it, didn’t you?)

Les Klinger, Mike Whelan, Peter Blau, and all you fabulous Sherlockians out there—for welcoming me to the party.

D. J. Kenny (deceased), author of
Illustrated Guide to Cincinnati and the World’s Columbian Exposition
(quoted in chapter twelve); Norman Bolotin and Christine Laing, authors of
The World’s Columbian Exposition: The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893
; Erik Larson, author of
The Devil in the White City
; and everyone behind the documentary
EXPO: Magic of the White City
and the Exposition Web site of the Paul V. Galvin Library Digital History Collection (http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/)—for doing all the hard stuff so I wouldn’t have to.

Andy Martin, Hector DeJean, Kathleen Conn, and everyone else at St. Martin’s Minotaur—for a great ride. Yeeeha!

Sophie Littlefield, Julie Goodson-Lawes, Ben Sevier, and Sarah Weinman—for listening to me worry and whine.

Mar, Kate, Mojo, and Izzy—for reminding me how much I
don’t
have to worry and whine about.

ALSO BY STEVE HOCKENSMITH

Holmes on the Range

On the Wrong Track

The Black Dove

The Crack in the Lens

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

WORLD
’
S GREATEST SLEUTH
! Copyright © 2010 by Steve Hockensmith. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.minotaurbooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hockensmith, Steve.

World’s greatest sleuth! : a Holmes on the range mystery / Steve Hockensmith.—1st ed.

    p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-312-37943-8

1.  Brothers—Fiction.   2.  Cowboys—Fiction.   3.  World’s Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.)—Fiction.   4.  Murder—Investigation—Fiction.   I.  Title.

PS3608.O29W67 2011

813'.6—dc22

2010037500

First Edition: January 2011

eISBN 978-1-4299-8961-9

First Minotaur Books eBook Edition: January 2011