Wonderfull History of the breeding of Foundation Mares & Stallions of the AMerican Quarter Horse. I would not be without all 4 volumes in this series. I refer to them when considering a new horse purchase to research bloodlines for Temperment, type,usability and many other factors.

This is and excellent book in a series of four (so far) about sires and dams of significance in the Quarter Horse Breed. I learned about the horses from birth to death, successes and failures and the people in their lives. A pedigree is provided, and links are made from ancestors and offspring. I found it an excellent reference tool and enjoyed reading it. Another well written book from Western Horseman.

This entire series of books are the best. As an owner of a quarter horse, and a relative of breeders and trainers of these magnificant animals, I found these books to be incredible. Every detail accentuates on the foundation of the breed, the animals history. This book, this series contains anything you need to know as a breeder or trainer predigree wise. Easily the best Quarter horse books on the market.

Heavy-weight champion, Mr. Larry Holmes takes the reader through the battles in the ring and his struggles outside as a human being. An honest man in a dishonest 'sport'. This easy reading, swift moving story of his rise to greatness is inspiring as well as disturbing. Mr.Holmes' inside view of the sweet science paints a picture of a greed filled, violent (outside as well as in the ring)world where money talks, and Don King does the loudest talking! The descriptions of Ali's camp in N.Y., the Norton, Cooney, and Spinks fights (Leon &Mike), bring the reading to the edge of the spit bucket. His story of the boxing establishment and the equally greedy media strips the polished image off the so called 'good guys' of boxing,King, Ali, Cosell, ABCsports. The lesson he teaches is one of perseverance. The chapters that tell of Roy Williams, an extremely talented boxer, whose skills were wasted due to the greed of D. King et.al., is moving and reminds us that our own talents and skills are often fleeting and must be preserved. For those who like boxing, for those who hate it, this book will have you cheering 'the Champ'.

Larry Holmes provides insight into the sport of boxing from the insider's perspective. He is not afraid to tackle its dark side, delving into the nuances of the corruption of the sport in general, and providing first hand examples of how the media, judges, and promoters all play a part in the last bastion of laissez faire capitalism. Holmes tackles subjects such as race, charisma, favoritism with the media, promoters, and managers, and how all of these topics tie into the survival and success of a fighter's career. The bottom line is money, and how much of it a fighter can generate and spread around to everyone in the industry.

Holmes effectively ties these topics into his boxing career and demonstrates how the world outside the ring affects what occurs inside the ring. Holmes is an example of a boxer who had most everything going against him, but he played his hand to the best of his ability. Ironically, taking the hard road to the title may have made him a better fighter.

You cannot judge Larry Holmes as a person or a fighter until you enter his world. His autobiography effectively opens the door to his world and courageously allows the reader to gain insight into his life and the sport of boxing.

Phil Berger does it again. If you loved his work on Joe Frazier's bio, or his equally brilliant, Punch Lines and Blood Season, than you'll love this classic. Holmes' Long awaited biography got overshadowed by Dave Remick's King of THe World, but it was equally as good. Against All Odds reminds everyone just how great a fighter Holmes was. THe book was honest and insightful and just an overall wonderful read. If you grew up in the Ali era and didn't want to accept the great fighter who followed him or were brought up in the heavily hyped Tyson era, I suggest you pick up this book and find out what you missed. Larry Holmes was one of Top Five greatest Heavyweights of All Time and Phil Berger's book reminds us why he is deserving of such a compliment. My personal top 10: 1- Ali, 2- Holmes, 3-Louis, 4-Liston, 5-Foreman, 6-Frazier, 7-Holyfield, 8-Marciano, 9-Tyson & 10-Johnson (Dempsey & CHarles fall in at 11 & 12). Enjoy.

Hot in places, fun and truer to canon than I expected.

Larry Millett's "The Red Demon" was a decent attempt at a Holmes pastiche. However, there were many flaws that, unfortunately, detracted greatly from my enjoyment of the book. Having myself read the entire canon and multiple pastiches, I found that Millett seemed extrodinarily intent on proving to the reader that he had done his research. Throughout the book, Millett's Watson refers CONSTANTLY to previous Holmes' cases, many of which Doyle never ever wrote! (These were explained as one of the many "unwritten Watson accounts" in the footnotes.)

And speaking of footnotes, they over-ran the entire novel. They ranged from clarifying innumerable details about the Minnesota railway, to basic facts any Holmesian would know. I found both Watson's uncharacteristic voice and the many times needless footnotes distracting.

Millet's Watson proves slower than usual. And as for Holmes, while the entire mystery was interesting, I believe Doyle's Holmes would have discovered the "missing motive" long before the final 30 pages of the novel. It made for a great climax to the novel -- but I felt as though I had to read 250 pages of un-Holmes' like investigation before the traditional Holmes' narrative finally shone through.

The novel overall was entertaining, and the Millett paints a beautiful picture of Minnesota at the turn of the century. However, as I enjoy Holmes more than I do Minnesota history, I won't be reading any of his subsequent novels.

Larry Millett's "Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon" takes the Great Detective from his usual London haunts into the pinelands of northern Minnesota. The results are variable.

The book is overshadowed by Holmes' failure to stop a massive fire that kills hundred of people. While this may seem to give away part of the story, it is plainly revealed in the blurb, broadly hinted at in the introduction, and the extent of the fire is shown on a map before the novel begins!

Instead, the reader gets to watch Holmes seeking to discover who is behind the impending disaster. So, while Millett's depiction of Holmes' deductive activity is fine. Most of the clues Holmes relies upon are in plain sight of the reader, which is not always the case in a Holmes' story, so perhaps some readers can enjoy matching withs with the Great Detective.

I found Millett's portrayl of Holmes a little off-key, and this is highlighted by Watson maiking references to Holmes' unusual behaviour. Not being from Minnesota (or even America!) I cannot comment of the depiction of the area and its people, but for a foreigner they seemed quite natural.

Millett has written two further Holmes novels - "Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murder (hinted at in the closing pages of this book) and "Sherlock Holmes and the Runestone Mystery" - both of which I believe are also set in Minnesota. Based on this book, I believe they are likely to be worth a read.

This is a must read for fans of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Holmes solves a satisfying mystery in the northwoods of Minnesota in one of the best Sherlock Holmes stories that I have ever read including the originals. The background setting is accurately painted by the first-time novelist, and the book is very well written. All of the elements that make Doyle's characters so popular can be found in the novel as well. There are a cast of interesting characters that can puzzle a reader as to who the red demon is. I guessed who the villian was......

When Sherlock Holmes's beautiful love interest vanishes, Holmes and Watson are quick to investigate. What they find, however, is that they have been targeted by a ruthless plot to make them appear to be the kidnappers--and murderers. In a chase that takes them from London to New York and on to Chicago, Holmes and Watson battle to find the edge that will let them pull ahead of the plotters and rescue Elsie Cubitt before she suffers the 'fate worse than death.'

Author Larry Millett has done his historical research and documents it in richly strewn footnotes. His accounts of city geography, turn of the (19/20th) century urban politics, and train travel all ring true. While the historical details ring true, the adventure itself has a bit of a hollow feel. It is difficult to imagine any criminal organization going to the troubles that Holmes's enemies go here. Surely it would have been easier to kill Holmes and Cubitt, if that was the goal, and then ruin their reputation later. Instead, they spend incredible amounts of money and energy for a pointless revenge.

Fans of the Holmes oeuvre may not recognize the Sherlock presented by Millett. Instead of cerebral, this Holmes is physical and impulsive. Watson, in contrast, was presented sympathetically with, I think, a properly balanced sense of loyalty and dogged determination. Doyle's Watson was never stupid--just an everyman like all of us who could not hope to do more than bask in Holmes's brilliance. So too, Millett's Watson is a man of action and integrity with solid if unexceptional intelligence.

In 1900 London the great Sherlock Holmes receives a message written in code that leads the detective to deduce that murdering mobster Abe Slaney survived his harrowing escape from prison rather than drowned as reported. Having barely stopped Abe before, Holmes knows the rematch will prove even more difficult and he also thinks someone else is playing him and his sidekick Watson like puppets on a strings.

Elsie Cubitt has vanished after withdrawing 5,000 pounds from her bank and Slaney is the most likely culprit. Holmes starts his quest by visiting a spiritualist, a confidant of Elsie. However, soon after Holmes leaves, the spiritualist vanishes too. The trail turns murky when a Holmes impersonator seems to be just in front of the London duo, leaving behind fallacious clues to throw Sherlock off and crime victims wanting retribution. The dynamic duo journeys to New York City where Homes also vanishes, leaving Watson and bartender buddy Shadwell Rafferty in Chicago in search of the great sleuth and Elsie.

Though a solid homage to Doyle and Holmes, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES never quite grips the audience as one would expect with Holmes missing and apparently a prisoner of a devious enemy. Instead, the reader sees an insightful look at the late Victorian era on both sides of the Atlantic and the ho hum of another case as related by Watson. Though the candid insight by Elsie, Holmes, and others adds depth, this tribute is more for the Baker Street crowd revering along with Larry Millet one of the notables.

Harriet Klausner

I thoroughly enjoyed this fourth novel by Sherlock writer and Minnesota native, Larry Millett. I was disappointed that it wasn't set in Minnesota (I'm from Minnesota...ya sure you betcha!) and missed all the interesting facts about St.Paul, Minneapolis, and other Minnesota cities. However, I really liked the plot, which has Watson doing some detecting work (or trying to) in the absence of Holmes. I liked that there was a tangled web of deceit and that the reader was kept guessing who the true mastermind behind the crime was and why they had it in for Holmes. I hope that Millett keeps writing Holmes mysteries because I'd love to read one involving Professor Moriarty. Millett has done for me what I think he hoped his books would do, he has made me want to read the original series by Arthur Conan Doyle. Bravo!

I've been a Sherlock Holmes fan all my life. I have read all four of the Conan Doyle novels and most of the short stories. I've read numerous Holmes stories and novels by other writers and seen every Holmes film that I have come across. I was predisposed to like "Sherlock Holmes and the Rune Stone Mystery". However, all I can say is that it was a major disappointment.

First of all, let's be clear. Millett can call his main character Sherlock Holmes just as I can call myself the King of France, but saying, or writing, it doesn't make it so. Instead, we have some English imposter who doesn't even have the courage to use the Holmes name most of the time, let alone the Holmes intellect or his flair for observation and deduction. Millett would have been better off to have centered the novel around his own detective creation, Shadwell Rafferty, at least he seems to be who he says he is. Better yet, he should have built the book around his only interesting character, (alleged) villainous, Mary Comstock.

This is a story built, according to its narrator, the Pseudo-Dr. Watson, on coincidences. We all know what coincidences are. They are the last refuge of hack writers. If you don't know how to resolve a problem, have the solution fall conveniently into someone's lap. It's a lot easier than being creative.

Then there is the location of the book. We are asked to believe that Holmes would travel all the way to Minnesota by boat and train on some trivial mission for the King of Sweden. Since the King already has an agent there, this seems far-fetched. Now, I have nothing against stories set in Minnesota being a fan of John Sandford's Prey novels, but this is the third time that Millett has had Holmes make that trek. It just isn't reasonable to believe that Sherlock couldn't find something better to do in London, or Paris, or even beautiful downtown Burbank.

If you are a Holmes fan, I suggest curling up with Conan Doyle or Nicholas Meyer, or, better yet, one of Laurie King's Mary Russell novels. Just don't waste your time with this bit of fluff.

Sending Holmes and Watson to Minnesota, especially for a third time, is a stretch, but the story is good enough to overcome that, if the reader allows.

Millett manages to tell his partly factual mystery through a narrative that's acceptably close to Watsonian style, and makes his character Shadwell Rafferty a believable and pleasant addition to the team.

He is guilty of some overkill with his addition of the character Mary Comstock, whom he paints as being some combination of Professor Moriarty and Irene Adler. As such she can be no more than an obvious contrivance--there's only one Moriarty, and only one Irene Adler (who, as any Sherlockian knows, will always be "The woman" to Holmes). I'd have much rather seen Millett try to use either Moriarty or Adler in their true forms than this strange Comstock composite, which is definitely a mark against the book.

Having said that, I admit I much prefer to see a pastiche author err by addition, as Millett does in this case, than to see one err by grossly reshaping a classic character. Millett avoids this, and we're left with a book that, although untraditonal in setting, can be enjoyed in most of its other features.

I've read all three of Milletts Sherlock in Minnesota and this one was my favourite so far. I enjoy the interface of the refined Victorian detective with the quarks and characters of Minnesota. His stories have become progressively more fun to read. I really enjoy the addition of Rafferty to our crime fighting team.

I was again reluctant to read this sequel of the "Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon," and the author disappointed me by writing a better novel (exactly as what happened when I read Meyer's "The West End Horror" after "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution").

But let me make this statement here: "The West End Horror" is by far much better than this "Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders."

Again the same rich guy from Minnesota invited Holmes to his home town to investigate some mysterious occurrences in the Ice Palace there ... As if there are no good detectives in America. As long as we are talking nonsense here, why did not he summon Ellery Queen, who is not less intelligent than Holmes, or maybe Colombo (hohohoho).

The story this time had some mystery elements. It was, as a matter of fact, a whodunit. I figured the murderer out from half of the mystery, not because I was abnormally cleaver, but because of a fallacy the murderer inserted. The strange thing is that Millett did not allude to this fallacy, maybe he did not even know that it was there, and maybe I was lucky!

A new character is introduced in this novel, and Irish clever guy by the name Shadwell Rafferty. I'm not so enthusiastic about him, because he does not enrich the world of Sherlock Holmes, and people are more used to one superior detective in the story. After all, this is a pastiche to praise Sherlock Holmes, and no one else.

We reach to the conclusion of the story and the villain who killed every body was apprehended, and then nothing much, the story does not give me the impression I get from Doyle's writings. And I am not going to recommend the book, because I could have done well without reading it.

This book is the follow up to Millett's first Holmes book, Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon. I liked that book, but I like this one even better. There are more characters, including Shadwell Rafferty, who is such an interesting character that a spin off series involving just him would be great. There are two crimes committed in this book, and like I said before, with all of the very interesting characters, this book is quite the page turner. Holmes and Rafferty solve the case in expert fashion, although it a tough one. You'll probably give yourself a head-ache trying to figure it out yourself! It's just over 400 pages, so it's longer than the Red Demon, but just like the Red Demon, Millett writes intelligently and is easy to read. I'm looking forward to reading the Rune Stone book, the third Holmes book by Millett.

If you are a fan of the British detective you will want to read this, and the previous Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon, as they have the American twist to a great mystery involving Holmes and Watson. If you are from Minnesota and know St. Paul this is the ultimate story involving that city. It is not a story to second guess and the best you can do is when a city location is given is to say "I know where that is !" and you'll forever drive around St. Paul with Watson's eyes. Millett should be proud that he is as accomplished as Arthur Conan Doyle in being able to propagate the Holmes and Watson mystique. This is simply a great book.

I enjoyed "The Red Demon;" I enjoyed "The Ice Palace Murders" much less. I didn't enjoy "The Secret Alliance." I'm a Sherlock Holmes fan, not Shadwell Rafferty, and Millett seems to have become infatuated with his own character to the detriment of involving Holmes. If one is going to write Sherlock Holmes stories, then he needs to write Holmes stories, not give him a secondary role to one's own creation. Millett also seems to be increasingly enamoured with his own knowledge of Twin Cities history, and this sometimes gets in the way. We want Holmes, Mr. Millett, not Rafferty, and if you are going to give a leading role to your own creation, then don't try to allure a readership with mostly false claims about a Sherlock Holmes mystery.

Larry Millett's fourth book is easily the weakest in the series. Holmes and Watson barely make cameo appearances, it's all the annoyingly stereotyped Shadwell Rafferty. The far-left politics don't help either. Millett needs to either research other settings for Holmes and Watson or just give Rafferty his own series so those who can't stand him can avoid him. Having Holmes visit Minnesota once was a stretch, four times is ridiculous.

In 1899, to the excitement of many of the Twin City residents, President McKinley is coming to Minneapolis. Apparently not every one is filled with good feelings with the pending visit from the country's leader. Majesty Burke calls fellow saloon owner Shadwell Rafferty to sobbingly inform him that assailants killed and strung up her barman, union activist Michael O'Donnell. The culprits left Michael naked except for an ominous sign stating that "THE SECRET ALLIANCE HAS SPOKEN".

The police chief says that Michael was killed because he was "taking liberties" with a young girl. Maj denies that her barman was not a pediophile and persuades Shad to investigate though he knows how dangerous the Secret Alliance is with its antiunion busting. With the help from his two visiting friends from London, Holmes and Watson, Shad follows a meandering trail filled with danger.

The fourth book centering on Sherlock Holmes' Twin City cases is an engaging tale that fans of the great detective will enjoy. SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET ALLIANCE brings Holmes' American host more to the forefront of the investigation than in the previous three novels, which adds an original spry twist to the a tale loaded with copious twists and turns. Even while bringing Shad in more of a lead role, Larry Millet continues his ability to capture the essence of Holmes and Watson while providing a vivid look at America at the turn of the previous century.

Harriet Klausner