Another Man’s Moccasins by Craig Johnson

22. – 485.) Another Man’s Moccasins by Craig Johnson – Sheriff Walt Longmire is back in Durant helping Cady recover from the injuries she suffered in Philadelphia. The body of a young Vietnamese woman is found just off the highway near the Hole-in-the-Wall. Longmire is exploring a large nearby culvert when a pile of refuse explodes into a 7’ Crow Indian who is barely subdued by a collection of officers. Finding the woman with a photo of himself and a bar girl taken in Vietnam in early 1968 sends Longmire flashing back to his war. As he works on the puzzle of a Vietnamese woman, who could not be a daughter, seeking him out 40 years later Longmire relives the war where he was a Marine investigator investigating drug trafficking. In Vietnam he endures intense trauma from which he has never truly recovered. Moving back and forth in time Longmire also occasionally finds himself in the spirit world. Ruby, his longtime administrative assistant, says he cares more about the dead than the living. I was surprised to read Longmire is a skilled pianist especially on popular favourites of the first half of the 20^th Century. As noted in my last review the relationship of Longmire and Henry Standing Bear reminds of Spenser and Hawk. Each duo is a pair of big powerful men of different races accustomed to violence who have reached middle age. Longmire and Spenser share a classic stubborn integrity. They differ in that Standing Bear, unlike Hawk, is a moral man. The mystery unfolds fairly but I never saw the solution coming. It is a rare mystery that could combine parallel stories from Vietnam and Wyoming. Longmire reminds of the even more tortured myster veterans of World War I – Ian Rutledge (Charles Todd), John Madden (Rennie Airth) and Maisie Dobbs (Jacqueline Winspear). Ninety years after the Great War Longmire bears the physical scars and suffers the emotional turmoil of his war. I raced through the book eager to know what was on the next page. At their best Michael Connelly and Robert Crais are just as compelling. I can hardly wait for my next chance to return to Absaroka County. Excellent. (June 6/09)

Junkyard Dogs by Craig Johnson

43. – 603.) Junkyard Dogs by Craig Johnson – The 6^th book in the series featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire from Durant, Wyoming. After leaving Absaroka County for the last book I was glad Walt is back home.

It is not often a mystery contains a scene from slapstick comedy. The book opens with the Sheriff’s Department stopping an old Toronado car pulling 72 year old George “Geo” Stewart who is tied to the back of the car. How Geo came to be sliding behind the car is laugh out loud funny. It is a tribute to Johnson that he makes the sequence credible as well as humourous.

Sheriff Walt moves on to a missing body parts investigation. The tip of a thumb has been found in a cooler at the dump. Who has lost part of their thumb?

It is late winter in Wyoming. February has been a brutal month. The temperature many days has barely ascended above 0 F (about -15 C). When the sun is not shining it has been snowing. Actually it sounds like a nice February in Saskatchewan.

Geo, a tough wiry man, returns quickly to help run the family junkyard and community garbage dump. Geo prefers the title of Municipal Solid Waste Facility Engineer.

Doing an effective job of keeping intruders out of the facility are a pair of huge mutt wolf-dogs, Butch and Sundance. As always Walt is accompanied by his big dog, Dog.

There is a confrontation at the facility between the future, Ozzie Dobbs a developer of multi-million dollar properties, and the present, the ornery Geo, which returns Geo briefly to the hospital.

When Geo subsequently turns up dead during a vicious storm Sheriff Walt leads the investigation which takes the Department down unexpected paths.

Personally, Walt is feeling the cumulative effects of a series of injuries sustained in the line of duty. He is forced into a medical examination. It was refreshing to read about a tough guy wearing down. Many series there does not seem to be any long term effects from serious injury.

Emotionally Walt has grappled with the risks of the job and come to accept them. Deputy, Santiago Saizarbitoria, has physically recovered from his bullet wound but is suffering from “bullet fever”. He has lost the spirit to be a police officer. Walt desperately wants to keep him a member of the Department.

The plot is less tied to Wyoming than earlier books in the series. As always the weather has a prominent role.

The characters are Wyoming. All prize independence. They are at home in the vast spaces of the state. While they are not as charming as Louise Penny’s Three Pines, Quebec I have come to love Durant and Absaroka County. They are a real community. The dialogue is witty and the story engaging. Excellent. (Aug. 8/11)

The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson

6. – 565.) The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson – Wyoming’s Sheriff Walt Longmire leaves Absorka County again to solve a mystery. This time he travels to neighbouring Campbell County instead of Philadelphia. It is a return to his roots in the rugged Powder River country.

Longmire doubts the beautiful Mary Barsad has pumped 6 bullets into the head of her husband, Wade, despite her immediate confession. In a bizarre decision, Longmire decides to go undercover as an insurance adjuster and starts asking questions in Absalom. All 40 residents, are hardly welcoming. They are an insular group focused on surviving in a harsh land. Social life is focused around the AR, a beat up bar of the type that can be seen throughout the American West.

Yet, continuing the Powder River country’s long history as a place of refuge, people continue to seek the isolation including Juana, an all purpose bar/motel employee with her half-Cheyenne young son, Benjamin. They are illegal Guatemalan immigrants.

            It is late fall. The stark landscape and big weather, a feature of every Longmire mystery, are getting ready for winter. The land has turned golden. It is Longmire’s favourite season. This fall is an empty time for him as Cady has returned to Philadelphia.

            With Longmire away from home the customary characters play smaller roles in the story. I miss them. Dog, his dog, is his primary support. Juana provides insight on the locals.

            Was it not for the confession there would be an abundance of suspects for Wade was a man who needed killing. He is far from a “victim”. Unlike the classic mystery no one has a good word for the deceased.

            As the story unfolds yet another classic Western gun, the Henry “Yellow Boy” rifle, becomes part of the story. In Cold Dish it had been a buffalo Sharps rifle.

            The big sheriff is a good companion and Wyoming has the great spaces of Saskatchewan. The Dark Horse is as much a classic Western as a mystery. Johnson continues to capture me and draw me swiftly through the story. Excellent. (Jan. 29/11)