Title: The Dark Horse
Author: Craig Johnson
Publisher: Viking Adult (May 28, 2009)
Format: Audio
Genre: Western Mystery
Source: Library
Series: Walt Longmire Mysteries #5
Chapter 1
It was the second week of September on the high desert, and the long, hot summer had baked the color from the plains and had turned the rusted girders of the old bridge into a thinned-out, tired brown. I topped the hill overlooking Absalom and pulled the gunmetal, Lincoln Town Car alongside the Pratt truss structure. There weren't very many of them in the Powder River Country, and the few that were left were being auctioned off to private owners for use on their ranches; I had grown up with these old camelback bridges and was sorry to see the last of them go. My eyes were pulled to the town balanced on the banks of the anemic river and pressed hard against the scoria hills like the singing blade of a sharp knife. The water, the land, and the bridge were sepia-toned; depleted.
I told Dog to stay in the back seat and got out of the car, slipped on my hat and an aged, and of course, burnished-brown horsehide jacket, and walked across the dirt lot. I studied the dusty, wide-planked surface of the bridge and, between the cracks, the few reflecting slivers of the Powder River below. The Wyoming Department of Transportation had condemned and, in turn, posted the bridge with bright yellow signs—it was to be removed next week. I could see the abutments off to the right that they had constructed where the new bridge would soon rest.
Synopsis
Wade Barsad, a man with a dubious past and a gift for making enemies, burned his wife Mary's horses in their barn; in retribution, she shot him in the head six times. But Longmire doesn't believe Mary's confession. Leaving behind the demands of his upcoming re-election campaign, Walt unpins his star to go undercover and discovers that everyone-including a beautiful Guatemalan bartender and a rancher with a taste for liquor-had a reason for wanting Wade dead.
It was the second week of September on the high desert, and the long, hot summer had baked the color from the plains and had turned the rusted girders of the old bridge into a thinned-out, tired brown. I topped the hill overlooking Absalom and pulled the gunmetal, Lincoln Town Car alongside the Pratt truss structure. There weren't very many of them in the Powder River Country, and the few that were left were being auctioned off to private owners for use on their ranches; I had grown up with these old camelback bridges and was sorry to see the last of them go. My eyes were pulled to the town balanced on the banks of the anemic river and pressed hard against the scoria hills like the singing blade of a sharp knife. The water, the land, and the bridge were sepia-toned; depleted.
I told Dog to stay in the back seat and got out of the car, slipped on my hat and an aged, and of course, burnished-brown horsehide jacket, and walked across the dirt lot. I studied the dusty, wide-planked surface of the bridge and, between the cracks, the few reflecting slivers of the Powder River below. The Wyoming Department of Transportation had condemned and, in turn, posted the bridge with bright yellow signs—it was to be removed next week. I could see the abutments off to the right that they had constructed where the new bridge would soon rest.
Synopsis
Wade Barsad, a man with a dubious past and a gift for making enemies, burned his wife Mary's horses in their barn; in retribution, she shot him in the head six times. But Longmire doesn't believe Mary's confession. Leaving behind the demands of his upcoming re-election campaign, Walt unpins his star to go undercover and discovers that everyone-including a beautiful Guatemalan bartender and a rancher with a taste for liquor-had a reason for wanting Wade dead.
2 comments:
hmmmmm?? not sure if I'd read on. I've never read a western, or a western mystery:) enjoy
I've read some of Johnson's work and enjoyed it and others that I've felt were somewhat disappointing. Maybe listening to a story on audio would be different.
Mike
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