#13 in the wildly popular Walt Longmire series.
Walt is headed for Cheyenne, WY to appear at a parole
hearing for a murderer he put away back when he was a rookie Deputy Sheriff in
the mid-late 1970s. Every five years Kim Wheeler comes up for parole and Walt
does his best to make sure Wheeler stays put. You see, in Longmire’s mind, ‘Life
Without Parole’ means the inmate is to stay in prison until the inmate dies –
behind bars. But the governor’s wife thinks that the prison system should be
looking for ways to reduce the inmate population and when an inmate qualifies
for a ‘compassionate parole’ for any number of reason, the inmate should be
released. In this case, doctors say that Wheeler has pancreatic cancer and likely
may not even survive to the date of the hearing. Longmire is having none of
that nonsense. Wheeler should die behind bars.
Back in the mid-late 1970s, Longmire was months from being a
Marine cop stationed in Vietnam. He and Martha had just gotten married and she
was pregnant. But Martha was having 2nd thoughts about being the
wife of a Sheriff.
Walt had been on the job for two weeks working under what
would become his mentor, Sheriff Lucian Connolly of Absaroka County. Lucian
dragged his new Deputy along on a political/social gathering of Wyoming
sheriffs. Every couple of years, the sheriff from each of Wyoming’s 24 counties
gather in Cheyenne to partake in a ritual. They board a private train pulled by
one of the last of the old steam locomotives – The Western Star. They ride
across the state and back; couple days, couple nights.
Most of the sheriffs come stag, but it’s OK to bring a wife
or girlfriend, as the case may be. Longmire was just hoping he was still
married when this junket was over. Steaks are eaten and copious amounts of
alcohol are consumed. Lies are told and stories get exaggerated.
The train stops for water. Most of the sheriffs hop off the
train to stretch their legs or have a smoke. Being the rookie, Longmire allows the established
sheriffs to re-board ahead of him, then he gets hammered from behind, dragged into the
shadows, and the train takes off. While Longmire is trying to flag a ride to
the next stop, one sheriff is killed and another disappears. Longmire snags a
ride with a touring rock band and catches up with the train. Seeing as how he wasn’t around, he’s now a
suspect.
In this wild west version of Murder on the Orient Express,
Walt plays the role of Hercule Poirot trying to sleuth out who is behind the
murders.
But Craig Johnson goes a step beyond the original Agatha Christie novel. Johnson weaves these two tales together between the
current day and the 1970s, expertly flipping back and forth between the two
different cases. In doing so, we learn a whole lot of Walt’s backstory of when he
first started working as a sheriff. To say much more would ruin your incredibly fun
ride. The book is proof positive that Johnson is supremely comfortable with his
craft and the characters he has created. And the best part of the Longmire
series is the ease in which we see the story played out in our head because the
casting of each character in the NetFlix series (6th and final
season coming up in short order) is so perfect that they populate your head
bringing every page to life.
What I will say is this:
Damn you Craig Johnson.
You better not make us wait a full year before we see how
this story plays out. The ending of both the backstory and the current day are
too abrupt. Get back to typing and get #14 out pronto.
ECD
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