Thursday, July 28, 2016

The Highwayman

Title: The Highwayman
Author: Craig Johnson
Published: May 17th 2016 by Viking
Format: Hardcover, 208 pages
Genre: Mystery
Series: Longmire 11.5

Though only a novella, The Highwayman reads more like a full novel. There is only one story line, but there are enough characters and intrigue to keep the reader fully involved.

Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear, affectionately called the Cheyenne Nation, are on a call out to have a little talk with a patrolwoman in a nearby jurisdiction. On some evenings, at 12:34am, she hears a distress call – officer needs assistance. The strange thing, it is her call number that is asking for assistance. A call number that used to belong to a deputy that was killed on the job 36 years ago. She knows that she is not crazy, but yet, no one else can hear the call. Radio signals can be a bit sketchy in the valley, but she swears that she can hear them.

With Walt’s past, he is the last person to say that someone is crazy, so he and Henry spend a couple of nights on patrol with her and hear nothing. The time is coming to have a talk about job stress and loneliness -- that is until all hades breaks loose and Walt is in a fight for his life and the Highwayman comes to his rescue putting to rest a long untold story.

I love the Walt Longmire books much more than the television series. The books can relay more of what is going on in Walt’s head and the dialogue there is more interesting than what can be spoken. Henry’s matter of fact way has the reader verbally agreeing, along with Walt, that the answer is plausible if a bit of a stretch for everyone involved.

I usually complain about half books, but this one is well worth the time. An Obvious Fact, the next in the Longmire series, is due out in the beginning of September and I am sure that it too will be packed with humor and headshaking wonder that can only happen between Walt and the Cheyenne Nation.

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