Now that I've started reading Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire series, I can't stop. Love the characters, the plots keep me turning pages to see how he is going to get himself into or out of the dangerous situation of the moment. Johnson still has some abrupt transitions that interrupt the time sequence for me in a disconcerting manner, but then again it's his story to tell as he chooses.Former Sheriff Lucian Connally is sure a murder has been committed at the Durant Home for Assisted Living when a Basque woman Mari Baroja, a new resident at the home and the woman Lucian has loved all his life, is found dead in her bed. Lucian persuades his friend and current sheriff, Walt Longmire, to go out of a limb and request a autopsy and when Lucian's suspicions are confirmed, the body count starts to increase. As usual, Walt and his best friend, Henry Standing Bear, are in the line of fire, and the Baroja family has a treasure trove of skeletons in the closet, so there is no shortage of suspects.
The Wyoming setting is key to this series--the rugged terrain, the unforgiving weather, the machismo of the Western male, the geographic and social isolation and the mix of cultures. In addition to the various Indian tribes (Crow and Cheyenne), Johnson explains how a significant contingent of Basque families settled in Wyoming, initially brought over to herd sheep.
Johnson does for Wyoming what James Lee Burke does for South Louisiana (though Burke has moved West in some of his later books) and Sharyn McCrumb does for Southern Appalachia--and many other mystery authors, for whom setting is a key element, are able to do. These authors live and breathe their settings, the milieu of their stories, so the reader does, too. Because these authors' voices are authentic, they are able to conjure up unique locales through words, which makes me doubly appreciate their books.
The Longmire series debuts on A & E channel tonight, 9:00 pm central, and I am interested to see how the characters make the leap from page to television. To read my reviews of other Longmire mysteries, click here for Another Man's Moccasins or here for The Cold Dish.
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| Australian Robert Taylor is the actor playing Longmire in A & E series
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When we lived in Wyoming, if males buttoned their collar buttons they were called sheepherders. Don't know how the button-down came to be associated with sheepherders, but Basques were usually associated with sheep rather than cattle.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this one, nor have I watched the series yet, but plan to do both!