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Walt Longmire #4
Another Man's Moccasins
The fourth Longmire novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Land of Wolves
Fans of Ace Atkins, Nevada Barr, and Robert B. Parker will love the fourth mystery in New York Times bestselling author Craig Johnson’s award-winning Longmire Mystery series, the basis for LONGMIRE, the hit drama series now streaming on Netflix. It delivers more of the taut prose, engrossing characters, beautiful Wyoming setting, and satisfying depth that reviewers have been hailing since his first book, The Cold Dish. In Another Man's Moccasins, the body of a Vietnamese woman dumped along the Wyoming interstate opens a baffling case for Sheriff Longmire, whose only suspect is a Crow Indian with a troubled past. But things get even stranger when a photograph turns up in the victim’s purse that ties her murder to one from Longmire’s past—a case he tackled as a Marine Corps investigator forty years earlier in Vietnam.
299 pages, ebook
First published May 29, 2008
2069 people are currently reading
4706 people want to read
About the author
Craig Johnson
102 books4,966 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Craig Johnson an American novelist, short story writer, and playwright. . He lives in Ucross, near Sheridan, Wyoming, population 25.
Johnson has written twelve novels featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire: The Cold Dish, Death Without Company, Kindness Goes Unpunished, Another Man's Moccasins, Junkyard Dogs, The Dark Horse (which received starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal, and was named one of Publisher's Weekly's best books of the year in 2009), Hell Is Empty, As The Crow Flies and A Serpent's Tooth. The Cold Dish and The Dark Horse were both Dilys Award finalists, and Death Without Company was named the Wyoming Historical Association's Book of the Year. Another Man's Moccasins received the Western Writers of America Spur Award for best novel of 2008 as well as the Mountains and Plains award for fiction book of the year.
Former police officer; has also worked as an educator, cowboy, and longshoreman.
AWARDS: Tony Hillerman Award for "Old Indian Trick"; fiction book of the year, Wyoming Historical Society, for Death Without Company, Wyoming Council for the Arts Award.
Craig Johnson an American novelist, short story writer, and playwright. . He lives in Ucross, near Sheridan, Wyoming, population 25.
Johnson has written twelve novels featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire: The Cold Dish, Death Without Company, Kindness Goes Unpunished, Another Man's Moccasins, Junkyard Dogs, The Dark Horse (which received starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal, and was named one of Publisher's Weekly's best books of the year in 2009), Hell Is Empty, As The Crow Flies and A Serpent's Tooth. The Cold Dish and The Dark Horse were both Dilys Award finalists, and Death Without Company was named the Wyoming Historical Association's Book of the Year. Another Man's Moccasins received the Western Writers of America Spur Award for best novel of 2008 as well as the Mountains and Plains award for fiction book of the year.
Former police officer; has also worked as an educator, cowboy, and longshoreman.
AWARDS: Tony Hillerman Award for "Old Indian Trick"; fiction book of the year, Wyoming Historical Society, for Death Without Company, Wyoming Council for the Arts Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,541 reviews
April 28, 2018
Up until now, I have not really been super impressed with the Longmire series. I found the first 3 books kind of convoluted and hard to stay interested in. I have kept going with the series because I am originally from Wyoming and I love to check out any books set there. Luckily, my struggles with Longmire have all changed with book 4.
Another Man's Moccasins was great! Lots of action and mystery. Interesting characters and backstory. I definitely stayed enthralled all the way through. And, the story didn't feel as contrived and convoluted, so either it is better or I am just getting used to Johnson's style of writing.
What I felt he did really well was combine two stories/mysteries. One a flashback to Longmire's time in Vietnam, the other set it modern day. The two stories reflect on each other and weave together perfectly. Not sure if Johnson spent any time in Vietnam, but it seems he researched it well and his words made me feel it and see it.
It might be tough to pick up this series mid-stream, but I would definitely recommend this book over the predecessors.
Another Man's Moccasins was great! Lots of action and mystery. Interesting characters and backstory. I definitely stayed enthralled all the way through. And, the story didn't feel as contrived and convoluted, so either it is better or I am just getting used to Johnson's style of writing.
What I felt he did really well was combine two stories/mysteries. One a flashback to Longmire's time in Vietnam, the other set it modern day. The two stories reflect on each other and weave together perfectly. Not sure if Johnson spent any time in Vietnam, but it seems he researched it well and his words made me feel it and see it.
It might be tough to pick up this series mid-stream, but I would definitely recommend this book over the predecessors.
April 20, 2018
I borrowed this book from the library. I enjoyed reading this book and give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars. Absaroka County Sheriff Walt Longmire is called to the scene of the body of a young Vietnamese woman. Her purse is found in a highway culvert where a homeless Vietnam Vet is living. There is a photo in the woman's purse, with a very young Walt Longmire from his time in Vietnam. The book has two threads, flashbacks to Walt's time in Vietnam, and the present day.
Walt does solve the mystery of who killed the woman, but there are some twists and turns and I didn't realize who killed who until the end. I like the characters in this series and the humor in it also. Walt and his friend Henry Standing Bear have a long, serious discussion about the meaning of a sexual encounter that Walt had in the previous book. The last line made me laugh out loud. Walt has a habit of serenading his office manager, Ruby: "Ruby, don't take your love to town." Later on he sings to her again and she says something that my wife probably said to me at various times: "Please don't sing again; I don't know if my ears can take it."
I recommend reading this series in order. This is book 4.
Walt does solve the mystery of who killed the woman, but there are some twists and turns and I didn't realize who killed who until the end. I like the characters in this series and the humor in it also. Walt and his friend Henry Standing Bear have a long, serious discussion about the meaning of a sexual encounter that Walt had in the previous book. The last line made me laugh out loud. Walt has a habit of serenading his office manager, Ruby: "Ruby, don't take your love to town." Later on he sings to her again and she says something that my wife probably said to me at various times: "Please don't sing again; I don't know if my ears can take it."
I recommend reading this series in order. This is book 4.
October 7, 2014
The Walt Longmire series is proving extremely satisfying, and the fourth book, Another Man’s Moccasins, is no exception.
What keeps me coming back?
The characters: mature throwbacks to Western cowboy mythology with values of independence, loyalty and trust–but without the abundant sexism and racism. Sheriff Walt Longmire is a former Marine, ex-football player and is as faithful as they come, and his brother-in-arms, Henry Running Bear, is normally centered, thoughtful and self-contained. In this book, Walt relives some of their interactions in Vietnam, giving interesting insight into their personalities now and a sense of how they’ve matured.
“I thought about all the wayward memories that had been harassing me lately, the recrimination, doubt, injured pride, guilt, and all the bitterness of the moral debate over a long-dead war. I sat there with the same feeling I’d had in the tunnel when the big Indian had tried to choke me. I was choking now on a returning past that left me uneasy, restless, and unmoored.”
Then there’s the writing, an enjoyable combination of clear prose and vivid imagery:
“The other [photo] was of the same woman seated at a bus station, the kind you see dotting the high plains, usually attached to a Dairy Queen or small cafe. She was seated on a bench with two young children, a boy and a girl. She wore the same smile, but her hair was pulled back in a ponytail in this photo, so her face was not hidden. She looked straight at the camera as she tickled the two children, who looked up with eyes closed and mouths open in laughing ecstasy.“
Vietnam flashbacks are not a reliable strategy for drawing me into a story. I came of age in a period where Hollywood was enthusiastically revisiting the war, finally acknowledging the hardships of the people who fought there. It began with Apocalypse Now and followed by a string of hits (Platoon, Hamburger Hill, Born on the Fourth of July, Full Metal Jacket, The Casualties of War, Jacob’s Ladder, Good Morning Vietnam), so it’s not easy to play to my sympathies–they’ve already been manipulated to the max by Hollywood. Yet the eerie possible connection of Walt’s past experiences there to the current case works well. By the end, I realized Johnson had some very clever parallels between the two story lines. I was also impressed the way Walt revisiting his memories had him questioning his racial biases, as well as giving him unexpected empathy with a suspect.
Why not five stars? Walt was a bit slow to pick up on several things that could have been dealt with by basic investigation; general over-protectiveness about his daughter, which made sense but isn’t really a palatable storyline; and the complicated situation with Vic, who occasionally feels larger than life. Still, those issues pale in comparison to the rest of the read. Truly, it is an enjoyable story that was worth a second read.
Posted forevermore at: http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2014/1...
What keeps me coming back?
The characters: mature throwbacks to Western cowboy mythology with values of independence, loyalty and trust–but without the abundant sexism and racism. Sheriff Walt Longmire is a former Marine, ex-football player and is as faithful as they come, and his brother-in-arms, Henry Running Bear, is normally centered, thoughtful and self-contained. In this book, Walt relives some of their interactions in Vietnam, giving interesting insight into their personalities now and a sense of how they’ve matured.
“I thought about all the wayward memories that had been harassing me lately, the recrimination, doubt, injured pride, guilt, and all the bitterness of the moral debate over a long-dead war. I sat there with the same feeling I’d had in the tunnel when the big Indian had tried to choke me. I was choking now on a returning past that left me uneasy, restless, and unmoored.”
Then there’s the writing, an enjoyable combination of clear prose and vivid imagery:
“The other [photo] was of the same woman seated at a bus station, the kind you see dotting the high plains, usually attached to a Dairy Queen or small cafe. She was seated on a bench with two young children, a boy and a girl. She wore the same smile, but her hair was pulled back in a ponytail in this photo, so her face was not hidden. She looked straight at the camera as she tickled the two children, who looked up with eyes closed and mouths open in laughing ecstasy.“
Vietnam flashbacks are not a reliable strategy for drawing me into a story. I came of age in a period where Hollywood was enthusiastically revisiting the war, finally acknowledging the hardships of the people who fought there. It began with Apocalypse Now and followed by a string of hits (Platoon, Hamburger Hill, Born on the Fourth of July, Full Metal Jacket, The Casualties of War, Jacob’s Ladder, Good Morning Vietnam), so it’s not easy to play to my sympathies–they’ve already been manipulated to the max by Hollywood. Yet the eerie possible connection of Walt’s past experiences there to the current case works well. By the end, I realized Johnson had some very clever parallels between the two story lines. I was also impressed the way Walt revisiting his memories had him questioning his racial biases, as well as giving him unexpected empathy with a suspect.
Why not five stars? Walt was a bit slow to pick up on several things that could have been dealt with by basic investigation; general over-protectiveness about his daughter, which made sense but isn’t really a palatable storyline; and the complicated situation with Vic, who occasionally feels larger than life. Still, those issues pale in comparison to the rest of the read. Truly, it is an enjoyable story that was worth a second read.
Posted forevermore at: http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2014/1...
September 2, 2014
Another great entry in the wonderful series featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire and his fictional community of Durant in the high plains of Wyoming. The case of a murdered Vietnamese woman dumped off an interstate highway reminds Walt of a case of a case he had as a marine police investigator in the Vietnam War decades before. Johnson weaves the two cases together in a masterful fashion through a series of flashbacks as the contemporary investigation unfolds.
A homeless, apparently mentally ill Crow Indian near the scene is blamed for the murder, but Walt doubts the FBI’s conclusion. His best friend, Cheyenne Indian barkeeper Henry Standing Bear, helps with his reservation connections to identify the man and uncover some of the secrets his past, which also includes war service. The plight of Native American war veterans aligns well with the highlights on the lasting impact of war on Vietnamese and white American participants and their families.
The case of the death of a bar girl during the war gets almost equal billing with the current case for reader engagement. Slowly the cases are brought together. Along the way, we come to learn more about the bonds between Walt and Henry, was served as an expert sniper in the Special Forces in the war, working with the Montegard tribesmen. At a critical point in this back story, Walt visits Henry at the remote firebase of Khe Sahn and ends up in a terrible firefight at the peak of the Tet Offensive. I love Johnson’s pithy summary of the significance of this base in Walt’s words:
Khe Sanh was a group grope for the high command. …It was Westmoreland’s capstone. It was déjà vu and Dien Bien Phu all over again. It was Masada.
Maybe there is a bit too much synchronicity in this story for easy plausibility, but I was captivated by the gritty reality of the criminal cases and the sweep of broader themes of individuals of different cultures caught up in collateral damages of a sad and violent history.
A homeless, apparently mentally ill Crow Indian near the scene is blamed for the murder, but Walt doubts the FBI’s conclusion. His best friend, Cheyenne Indian barkeeper Henry Standing Bear, helps with his reservation connections to identify the man and uncover some of the secrets his past, which also includes war service. The plight of Native American war veterans aligns well with the highlights on the lasting impact of war on Vietnamese and white American participants and their families.
The case of the death of a bar girl during the war gets almost equal billing with the current case for reader engagement. Slowly the cases are brought together. Along the way, we come to learn more about the bonds between Walt and Henry, was served as an expert sniper in the Special Forces in the war, working with the Montegard tribesmen. At a critical point in this back story, Walt visits Henry at the remote firebase of Khe Sahn and ends up in a terrible firefight at the peak of the Tet Offensive. I love Johnson’s pithy summary of the significance of this base in Walt’s words:
Khe Sanh was a group grope for the high command. …It was Westmoreland’s capstone. It was déjà vu and Dien Bien Phu all over again. It was Masada.
Maybe there is a bit too much synchronicity in this story for easy plausibility, but I was captivated by the gritty reality of the criminal cases and the sweep of broader themes of individuals of different cultures caught up in collateral damages of a sad and violent history.
May 13, 2016
If I could buy stock in books The Walt Longmire Series by Craig Johnson would be one of my top picks. The series is just that good. When I try to explain its appeal to me I stumble a bit but always say I love the characters and their development, how I can see Absaroka County, Wyoming due to Johnson's expertise, enjoy the sprinkling of Cheyenne and Indian lore and find fun in the humor.
Another Man's Moccasins enjoyment is not so much the story as it is the structure. I liked the way this mystery of two murders, one in present day of a Vietnamese girl, the other which takes Walt flashing back to his first murder investigation while a Marine in Vietnam is presented in alternating segments. Separated by over forty years these two narrations bring us new insight to the makeup of this sheriff. The inclusion of Virgil White Buffalo, a bigger than life homeless Crow Indian just increased my pleasure of this the fourth in the series.
Another Man's Moccasins enjoyment is not so much the story as it is the structure. I liked the way this mystery of two murders, one in present day of a Vietnamese girl, the other which takes Walt flashing back to his first murder investigation while a Marine in Vietnam is presented in alternating segments. Separated by over forty years these two narrations bring us new insight to the makeup of this sheriff. The inclusion of Virgil White Buffalo, a bigger than life homeless Crow Indian just increased my pleasure of this the fourth in the series.
February 17, 2022
4 Stars for Another Man’s Moccasins: Walt Longmire Mystery Series, Book 4 (audiobook) by Craig Johnson read by George Guidall.
This a dark and gritty story. The flashbacks to the Vietnam War added a lot of depth to the characters. Mysteries like this that are set in such remote locations really have a feel of going back in time.
This a dark and gritty story. The flashbacks to the Vietnam War added a lot of depth to the characters. Mysteries like this that are set in such remote locations really have a feel of going back in time.
October 12, 2010
Slipping into a Craig Johnson mystery is a little like slipping into well-worn jeans and suprisingly roomy cowboy boots--it changes your whole outlook. With all the horrible crimes being reported today, I'd like to think I had someone as humane and generous as Johnson's main man, Walt Longmire, at my back. If I were to imagine a father, it would be someone who cared for me as completely as this man does for his townspeople.
A secret here: I save the novels of Craig Johnson on my bookshelf until I need a surefire safety pleasure to remind me there is country beyond Boston where people live in big skies and the problems are different. And the way people deal with those problems are different. Not everyone comes out unscathed, but sometimes the conclusions of his novels feel a little like revelations. And that warm, comfortable feeling is well worth the price of admission.
A secret here: I save the novels of Craig Johnson on my bookshelf until I need a surefire safety pleasure to remind me there is country beyond Boston where people live in big skies and the problems are different. And the way people deal with those problems are different. Not everyone comes out unscathed, but sometimes the conclusions of his novels feel a little like revelations. And that warm, comfortable feeling is well worth the price of admission.
December 6, 2024
Absaroka County Sheriff Walt Longmire has been acting as rehab coach for his daughter Cady, who has been the victim of an assault. Then he has to leave as he’s called away to deal with a dead Vietnamese girl alongside the highway. The trail leads to a derelict Crow Indian by the name of Virgil White Buffalo, but the case is complicated when the photograph found in the girl’s pocket shows Walt and a young prostitute taken in the 1960s. How did she come to have this picture?
Flashbacks show Walt remembering and reliving his war experiences and his then relationships, but this in no way prepared him for the arrival of Tran Van Tuyen, who claims to be the dead girl’s grandfather. Meanwhile, his deputy and friend, Virgil’s in jail, happily feasting on pizzas at the county’s expense.
There are indications that Ho Thi Paquet, the dead girl, was here illegally. a “dust child,” the name given to the offspring of an American GI and a Vietnamese woman. Seems that there may have been another girl traveling with her before she died. Walt realizes that the resolution will do little to help heal the Asian/American tragedies past and current.
There is also a back story of racism and murder, that is riveting as well as informant. Readers who’ve come to admire Walt’s friend, Henry Standing Bear, will not only admire him, but want to give him the Medal of Honor for his war exploits. I really like this book, and learning more about Walt's past and his service in the USMC was just an added bonus.
Flashbacks show Walt remembering and reliving his war experiences and his then relationships, but this in no way prepared him for the arrival of Tran Van Tuyen, who claims to be the dead girl’s grandfather. Meanwhile, his deputy and friend, Virgil’s in jail, happily feasting on pizzas at the county’s expense.
There are indications that Ho Thi Paquet, the dead girl, was here illegally. a “dust child,” the name given to the offspring of an American GI and a Vietnamese woman. Seems that there may have been another girl traveling with her before she died. Walt realizes that the resolution will do little to help heal the Asian/American tragedies past and current.
There is also a back story of racism and murder, that is riveting as well as informant. Readers who’ve come to admire Walt’s friend, Henry Standing Bear, will not only admire him, but want to give him the Medal of Honor for his war exploits. I really like this book, and learning more about Walt's past and his service in the USMC was just an added bonus.
January 24, 2018
The body of a Vietnamese woman is found in a ditch.
Longmire and company try to find out who the woman is, and encounter a ghost town, the usual colorful characters endemic to a small town, a gigantic homeless Indian sleeping in a culvert, a Vietnamese man who may be the woman's father, and a connection to a case from 40 years ago.
Not bad, filled with baby boomer guilt, but that's to expected in this series.
Longmire and company try to find out who the woman is, and encounter a ghost town, the usual colorful characters endemic to a small town, a gigantic homeless Indian sleeping in a culvert, a Vietnamese man who may be the woman's father, and a connection to a case from 40 years ago.
Not bad, filled with baby boomer guilt, but that's to expected in this series.
April 20, 2025
Another good entry in the Longmire series. I have been reading these in no particular order for the past few years ever since seeing the great TV series that was based on the books. This one is number four in the series and is one of the earlier novels that I missed reading up to this point. The story tells of a young Asian woman who is killed and left near a drainage culvert on the highway in Wyoming. The woman turns out to be Vietnamese which provides a lead-in to telling some of Walt's backstory from when he served in Vietnam. The novel switches between the present dealing with the dead Vietnamese woman to the past where Walt is a Marine MP in Vietnam trying to get to the bottom of an influx of drugs and the murder of a Vietnamese bar girl. So who killed the young Vietnamese woman? The leading suspect is a seven-foot-tall FBI (Fu**ing Big Indian) called Virgil White Buffalo who was living in the culvert where the body was dumped. But there is also a Vietnamese man who shows up in a local bar and claims to be the murdered girl's grandfather. And then there is a photo from the young girl's purse showing Walt when he was in Vietnam with the bar girl who was murdered there. So what is the connection and why was the girl murdered?
This was another fast-paced entry in the series where Walt and his crew are actively investigating a murder that could involve some of the locals. But the novel also focused on some troubling social issues including human trafficking and prostitution. Glad I finally got around to reading this one and I'll be looking forward to reading some of the later novels in this series that I have missed.
This was another fast-paced entry in the series where Walt and his crew are actively investigating a murder that could involve some of the locals. But the novel also focused on some troubling social issues including human trafficking and prostitution. Glad I finally got around to reading this one and I'll be looking forward to reading some of the later novels in this series that I have missed.
June 8, 2018
Another good Longmire book. In this one, a modern murder in Walt's county, links back to his days in Vietnam. The action is good and the ending is satisfying so what's not to like. Recommended.
August 22, 2011
As much as I love Craig Johnson's writing, this one wasn't one of my favs. Now to be fair, the publisher messed the book up by leaving out 2 chapters that as a reader we really needed. So we had to recover from that, then there was a lot of choppiness in the writing which normally isn't there. We were jerked into a scene and had no idea how we got there. This book has flashbacks to Vietnam for Walt. Which I do understand was needed in order for us to understand how it effected the present day situation. But they are not my favorite tool for relieving the past and would jerk me out of the present day story flow. Which was probably what the point was.
Even some of the characters were acting up at least for me. Walt was his usual self, but Vic really made me mad. I can barely tolerate their May/December romance as it is. But through most of the book Vic has been coming on to Walt hot and heavy. Finally things line up for them to get together and because Walt doesn't ask her out in a smooth refined manner Vic gets her back up and drives off on him. If she wanted that kind of man she shouldn't have picked Walt. I am not saying he pulled out his club and tried to hit her over the head to drag her back to his cave, but he is a 60s something guy...come on...gotta give the old dude a break.
The story starts out with a young Vietnamese woman being found on the side of the road, dead. Not to far away they find a homeless giant of an Crow Indian whom they take in to custody for her murder.
From the first Walt isn't convinced that Virgil committed this horrible crime. So as he digs deeper into the murder, his past starts coming back to haunt him. As this murder mirrors a murder from Walt's past in Vietnam. Can Walt save a fellow Vet, whom the government treated shamefully and was now lost? Now we find that there were two women in the car on the night that Ho Thi was killed, where is the other woman? And is Tran van Tuyen really Ho Thi's grand-father or someone much more sinister?
It was a good mystery, but had some weakness to the plot. Like how could Walt not know of Virgil and where he was living at, but a man who had only been in the area for a short while figure out he was there and then use his circumstance for his gain...it didn't make sense. But that was a small thing in comparison to the over all good of the story. I still love Walt and am looking forward to the next book in the series.
Even some of the characters were acting up at least for me. Walt was his usual self, but Vic really made me mad. I can barely tolerate their May/December romance as it is. But through most of the book Vic has been coming on to Walt hot and heavy. Finally things line up for them to get together and because Walt doesn't ask her out in a smooth refined manner Vic gets her back up and drives off on him. If she wanted that kind of man she shouldn't have picked Walt. I am not saying he pulled out his club and tried to hit her over the head to drag her back to his cave, but he is a 60s something guy...come on...gotta give the old dude a break.
The story starts out with a young Vietnamese woman being found on the side of the road, dead. Not to far away they find a homeless giant of an Crow Indian whom they take in to custody for her murder.
From the first Walt isn't convinced that Virgil committed this horrible crime. So as he digs deeper into the murder, his past starts coming back to haunt him. As this murder mirrors a murder from Walt's past in Vietnam. Can Walt save a fellow Vet, whom the government treated shamefully and was now lost? Now we find that there were two women in the car on the night that Ho Thi was killed, where is the other woman? And is Tran van Tuyen really Ho Thi's grand-father or someone much more sinister?
It was a good mystery, but had some weakness to the plot. Like how could Walt not know of Virgil and where he was living at, but a man who had only been in the area for a short while figure out he was there and then use his circumstance for his gain...it didn't make sense. But that was a small thing in comparison to the over all good of the story. I still love Walt and am looking forward to the next book in the series.
August 9, 2025
Here we have alternating timelines between the present day to 1968 Vietnam. And yes in the end the timelines do blend together. We learn about Walt and Henry's time together in Vietnam which was interesting. Present day, Walt and Henry investigate the murder of a young Vietnamese girl. Could this girl have a connection to Walt's time in Vietnam? Virgil White Buffalo, a Crow with a troubling past is in custody for the murder. Is it possible Walt has the wrong man in custody? Another enjoyable read in the Longmire series. At this point reading a Longmire book is like catching up with old friends. Even though the TV series doesn't quite match the books the show is still worth watching.
April 14, 2021
Another great Johnson offering in the Longmire series.
A dead Vietnamese girl in Walt's County is unusual as none too many Vietnamese make it to Eastern Wyoming. Even more unusual is the decades old picture in her possession - of a young Marine named Walt Longmire.
Thus begins a double mystery as Johnson alternates between the young Marine investigator working a drug case on an army base and Sheriff Longmire trying to untangle the mystery of the young murder victim.
The prelude tale gives good background on present day Longmire in terms of showing his character and incidents that influenced the adult. A young Wyoming buddy special forces Henry Standing Bear is also in the earlier tale and pieces of their life-long friendship are introduced in this fourth book of the Series.
A gripping read with great characters and dialogue.
A dead Vietnamese girl in Walt's County is unusual as none too many Vietnamese make it to Eastern Wyoming. Even more unusual is the decades old picture in her possession - of a young Marine named Walt Longmire.
Thus begins a double mystery as Johnson alternates between the young Marine investigator working a drug case on an army base and Sheriff Longmire trying to untangle the mystery of the young murder victim.
The prelude tale gives good background on present day Longmire in terms of showing his character and incidents that influenced the adult. A young Wyoming buddy special forces Henry Standing Bear is also in the earlier tale and pieces of their life-long friendship are introduced in this fourth book of the Series.
A gripping read with great characters and dialogue.
February 1, 2016
The fourth novel in the Longmire series brings the sheriff back to his own world were it all starts with Walt and his daughter in a gym. She is still recovering from the assault on her from the previous book.
A body dump of an Asian woman starts this story that runs in two story lines one in the present with Longmire figuring out who killed the Asian woman and what to do do with a giant Indian who might be the murderer but at least nearly killed Longmire when he was found hiding close to the scene of the woman's dumping place.
The second story line takes place with a young Walt in his days with the MP in Vietnam. In here it all goes haywire as well with the death of a service man and female Vietnamese prostitute.
Both stories tell us more about Walt, Vic, Henry and the rest of the cast of characters that make up the world of Longmire. This is a raw tale about drugs, prostitution and a war that is far from over for some.
Once again a read you want to finish in one sitting and making you want to pick up the next installment. A series that is well worth your time.
A body dump of an Asian woman starts this story that runs in two story lines one in the present with Longmire figuring out who killed the Asian woman and what to do do with a giant Indian who might be the murderer but at least nearly killed Longmire when he was found hiding close to the scene of the woman's dumping place.
The second story line takes place with a young Walt in his days with the MP in Vietnam. In here it all goes haywire as well with the death of a service man and female Vietnamese prostitute.
Both stories tell us more about Walt, Vic, Henry and the rest of the cast of characters that make up the world of Longmire. This is a raw tale about drugs, prostitution and a war that is far from over for some.
Once again a read you want to finish in one sitting and making you want to pick up the next installment. A series that is well worth your time.
June 4, 2018
Absaroka County Sheriff, Walt Longmire, is called to the scene of the murder of a young Vietnamese woman. This murder and Walt's service in Vietnam as a Marine inspector seem to be intertwined. Walt was a USC graduate with an English degree when he was drafted into the Vietnam war.
What is lacking in a somewhat weak plot is made up for by author, Craig Johnson's, characterizations and immersions in the Wyoming landscapes. There is a piece about the true location of the 'hole in the wall' (made famous by the Butch Cassidy movie), there is information about the 'dust children' from the Vietnam war, and then Virgil, the homeless, Crow Indian, Viet Nam vet, gives us insight into that tragedy. As always, Walt imparts wisdom, patience, and humor as sheriff.
This is the 4th Longmire Audible book my husband and I have listened to as we are forever driving and chasing our kids and grandkids across the country. It was a 3.75 star plot, but boosted by superb writing and characterizations.
What is lacking in a somewhat weak plot is made up for by author, Craig Johnson's, characterizations and immersions in the Wyoming landscapes. There is a piece about the true location of the 'hole in the wall' (made famous by the Butch Cassidy movie), there is information about the 'dust children' from the Vietnam war, and then Virgil, the homeless, Crow Indian, Viet Nam vet, gives us insight into that tragedy. As always, Walt imparts wisdom, patience, and humor as sheriff.
This is the 4th Longmire Audible book my husband and I have listened to as we are forever driving and chasing our kids and grandkids across the country. It was a 3.75 star plot, but boosted by superb writing and characterizations.
October 31, 2014
Not being a big fan of war stories, I had a bit of a problem with this book. A good third of Another Mans Moccasins concerns Longmire's tour of duty during the war in Vietnam. The story dovetails into a current crime of murder committed of a young woman in his county and a murder committed during Longmire's military police days.
Certainly not my favorite in the series so far. That said the book is well written.
Certainly not my favorite in the series so far. That said the book is well written.
March 25, 2013
I remain a devoted follower of the series, but this fourth book was a step back in quality for me. Before I start on the grumbling bits, let me say that the book reads really well and the various wacky characters of the Absaroka County Sheriff Department remain as interesting as usual. The premise is a good one for a police procedural, a crime with very little clues:
No matter what aspect of law enforcement with which you might be involved, there’s always one job you dread. I’m sure at the more complicated venues it’s the terrorists, it’s serial killers, or it’s gang-related, but for the western sheriff it’s always been the body dump.
But ... this is supposed to be a murder mystery novel, it even goes for a double bet by weaving in two similar crimes decades apart: a young unidentified woman found in a ditch by the roadside and a hooker killed near an American base in Vietnam at the time of the Tet ofensive (1968). The link between them appears to be in their nationality (Vietnamese) and the fact that they both seemed to know Walt Longmire. What bothered me was the lack of mystery translated into a lack of tension; I found no surprise in the denouement for both cases. The culprits were pretty obvious from the very start, despite the various red herrings the author tried to throw at the reader.
Second complaint I have is about the focus of the book almost exclusively on Walt, to the detriment of the other characters, including Cady, Vic Moretti, Henry Standing Bear, Sancho, et all, who have token walk in scenes and contribute almost nothing to the plot. Part of the story is told in flashbacks to the period Walt was investigating drug smuggling during the Vietnam War, so it is understandable his present crew would feature less in the story, but I felt the insertion of these flashbacks was rather clumsily executed. I liked though the references to Walt's degree in English Lit and his piano playing scenes.
Actually, the most interesting character of the book is the newcomer FBI (no, the acronim doesn't refer to the federal agency). Virgil White Bufallo reminds me of Chief Bromden of Ken Kesey fame: a huge homeless Indian native, a man of very few words and with a violent streak - the perfect fall guy for the unresolved crime. His paranoid atitude can be excused to some degree due to post traumatic stress after the war and long years of wrongful imprisonment. Some aspects of his story are left unresolved (the mocassins found with him, his talent for chess, how he managed to remain undiscovered in the less populated state of the Union), but the link between him and Walt through their common Vietnam memories works reasonably well.
Third: one of the main appeals of the series in the beginning was the tongue in cheek approach to the serious themes, the one liners and the friendly banter between characters. The flavour is still present, but I feel it is toned down a lot compared with previous books. I hope the next one will revive Walt's sense of humor after these grim recollections of war. His relationship with Vic looks promising. Here's a small topical joke from the present story:
He pulled a thin, black cellular from his back pocket. “I’ve got this, but it only works at the parking spot outside the veterinary office.” He nodded up the road.
“They’ve got painted rocks to mark the spot, and a sign that says ‘telephone booth.’ ”
“Welcome to Wyoming.”
Fourth and fifth are about foreigners and guns: I would not have pegged Walt as a racist and I wasn't bothered by the obvious fetish for firearms in the series until now, but the way the Vietcong is portrayed here feels borrowed wholesale from cold war propaganda brochures or from a Rambo movie. Twice (both Virgil and Walt) we have scenes where the spunky American soldier is mowing down entire batallions of the enemy singlehanded, heroically holding back the red tide who seem incapable of scoring a single hit on our boy. Add another episode of torture at the hands of Japanese soldiers and a slightly gratuitous scene with Walt rescuing wounded comrades under heavy fire, and you get a gung-ho militaristic flavour that generally doesn't sit very well with me.
Not everything about Walt recollections of war rubbed me the wrong way. A particular phrase brought to mind a recent lecture of Tim O'Brien stories, about young men with old eyes:
Maybe it was the place; youth could not be maintained without innocence
Not a complaint, but more like a curiosity sidenote : it will be interesting to find out how the author will continue to produce dead bodies in a county that boasted in the first volume how there never was a murder in town for about twenty years. I counted about twenty bodies in the last year of so, granted with one book set in Philadelphia. Walt Longmire is up for re-election, and I must say, his clean record is going down the drain ;-)
I'm still planning to read at least a couple more books in the series this year, despite my slight disillusionment with the last one.
July 18, 2017
As I continue my Longmire series read, full disclosure requires that I openly admit I am a devoted fan of the Longmire television show (on A/E and now Netflix) and have enjoyed reading the first three books in the Longmire book series that inspired that show even more. With that said, I am still doing my best to provide objective and honest reviews as I move into the third book.
“Another Man’s Moccasins” continues the fictional adventures of Walt Longmire, Sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, his best friend, Henry Standing Bear, Vic Moretti, his loyal and outspoken deputy, and Cady, his recovering and best lawyer in the world daughter. This time the plot line involves two stories – a current murder investigation and a story from Walt’s past experience as a Marine investigator in the Vietnam war. The current activity starts when a young Vietnamese woman is discovered alongside the interstate and the obvious suspect, Virgil White Buffalo, is a vagrant with his own troubled past. Deepening the mystery is a picture found in the victim’s purse of Longmire when he was involved in a military investigation many years before in Vietnam.
By moving the story back and forth between the present and the past, the author focuses most of his attention on Walt and the experiences that molded his character. In some ways, the emphasis on Longmire makes it more personal for the reader and the spotlight works well on him. However, there is a trade-off that comes with it. There is less interaction between him and the other characters. Henry and him have a few scenes, one especially good one during the flashback. Vic and him have a couple of tension filled flirty moments, most of them controlled by her. Cady’s activity mostly takes place offstage too, as she continues her physical recovery from the attack she suffered in the last book. However, there is a good note - the introduction of an interesting and well-layered Virgil White Buffalo, who I hope will return in further adventures.
Johnson tells his stories with a developing style and rhythm that draws in the reader and makes Absaroka county, Wyoming a home away from home. The flow reflects a confident author who knows his characters and how he wants to chart their growth and development through the conflicts of the plotting. Scenes transition smoothly from one to another as the story develops and the tension builds.
I loved the first three books a lot and rated them very well. “Another Man’s Moccasins” is a good read, but I would rate it just a bit lower than the first three. This is primarily because the two mysteries (as good as they were) kept several of the other characters in the background and kept their plot lines in a bit of a holding pattern. Still, a very worthy and enjoyable read.
“Another Man’s Moccasins” continues the fictional adventures of Walt Longmire, Sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, his best friend, Henry Standing Bear, Vic Moretti, his loyal and outspoken deputy, and Cady, his recovering and best lawyer in the world daughter. This time the plot line involves two stories – a current murder investigation and a story from Walt’s past experience as a Marine investigator in the Vietnam war. The current activity starts when a young Vietnamese woman is discovered alongside the interstate and the obvious suspect, Virgil White Buffalo, is a vagrant with his own troubled past. Deepening the mystery is a picture found in the victim’s purse of Longmire when he was involved in a military investigation many years before in Vietnam.
By moving the story back and forth between the present and the past, the author focuses most of his attention on Walt and the experiences that molded his character. In some ways, the emphasis on Longmire makes it more personal for the reader and the spotlight works well on him. However, there is a trade-off that comes with it. There is less interaction between him and the other characters. Henry and him have a few scenes, one especially good one during the flashback. Vic and him have a couple of tension filled flirty moments, most of them controlled by her. Cady’s activity mostly takes place offstage too, as she continues her physical recovery from the attack she suffered in the last book. However, there is a good note - the introduction of an interesting and well-layered Virgil White Buffalo, who I hope will return in further adventures.
Johnson tells his stories with a developing style and rhythm that draws in the reader and makes Absaroka county, Wyoming a home away from home. The flow reflects a confident author who knows his characters and how he wants to chart their growth and development through the conflicts of the plotting. Scenes transition smoothly from one to another as the story develops and the tension builds.
I loved the first three books a lot and rated them very well. “Another Man’s Moccasins” is a good read, but I would rate it just a bit lower than the first three. This is primarily because the two mysteries (as good as they were) kept several of the other characters in the background and kept their plot lines in a bit of a holding pattern. Still, a very worthy and enjoyable read.
April 29, 2020
7,5/10
Muy entretenido y fácil de leer como los anteriores. Los personajes siguen siendo lo mejor de esta saga junto a la prosa de su autor y al worldbuilding.
Seguiré con la saga cuando me haga con el quinto.
Muy entretenido y fácil de leer como los anteriores. Los personajes siguen siendo lo mejor de esta saga junto a la prosa de su autor y al worldbuilding.
Seguiré con la saga cuando me haga con el quinto.
March 8, 2021
Not quite as interesting to me as some of the others but still enlightening as to Walt's earlier years in Vietnam.
December 29, 2019
Very rarely do I find that I enjoy both the book version and television adaptation of a series. The Walt Longmire series is one such rare case. I actually watched the television series long before I read the books. That breaks one of my cardinal rules of reading and film/television watching -- always read the book(s) first. But, in my defense, at the time I didn't know that the television show was based (a bit loosely in spots) on Craig Johnson's books. When the television show ended, I learned that there were several books. It was like hitting the western-adventure-cop-story-loving-bibliophile mother lode. That moment was where I butted up against one of my other book behaviors. I'm a bit OCD when it comes to reading series .... I can't read books out of order if they are in a series and I want the entire series available to me before I start reading. So I started collecting the books....one here, one there, used copy found here, gift copy from friends there. I started collecting while Netflix was showing the final season of the show....and in 2019, I still hadn't started reading the books.
I'm turning over a new leaf. I don't wait to have physical copies of books any more.....I have 3 library cards. Yep -- three. A large metro and two smaller regional libraries. There are now very few books I can't find at a library either in physical or digital format.....and those elusive few books are the ones I spend time weaseling up a physical copy. I can still keep my OCD reading habits.....the whole series lined up and waiting. I just read some of the books on my Ipad or online. Tink, tink, tink -- Longmire fell into place. And....I'm reading!
The best thing about the entire situation?? The Longmire book series continues!! In fact, Craig Johnson just put out a new book in the series in 2019. The television series might be finished, but I can still get my Longmire fix! Yahooooo! Vic is still salty. Henry Standing Bear is still spiritual. Longmire still catches the bad guys. I love it!
Ok....well I suppose I am technically supposed to be reviewing Another Man's Moccasins -- the 4th book in the Longmire series. Through the lovely offerings of my library peeps, I am listening to the audio book versions of the first few books. The holiday season does not lend itself to long reading jags....so while cooking, cleaning, and doing the usual festivities, I have been listening to George Guidall read Johnson's book to me. Guidall is an excellent voice actor....he brings the story to life. I still see the television actors from the series in my head (I have to imagine Katee Sackoff with dark hair though since the book description of the character is so different from the actress) as I listen.(Casting was excellent for that show!)
The story is part flashback to Walt's time in Vietnam during the war and part present day. A Vietnamese woman is found dead along the side of the highway. Turns out, the death is related to one Walt investigated while in Vietnam.
This book series has won awards for a reason. The stories are always well-written with strong, developed characters. I love the mix of humor, police investigation and tribal culture.
I don't usually care for stories that pop back and forth in time, but in this case it worked. The story grabbed my attention in the first few pages and kept it until the very end. Definitely another great story in this series!
There are currently 15 books in the Walt Longmire series, plus a few novellas published in between full-length books. I'm moving on to #5 -- The Dark Horse.
I'm turning over a new leaf. I don't wait to have physical copies of books any more.....I have 3 library cards. Yep -- three. A large metro and two smaller regional libraries. There are now very few books I can't find at a library either in physical or digital format.....and those elusive few books are the ones I spend time weaseling up a physical copy. I can still keep my OCD reading habits.....the whole series lined up and waiting. I just read some of the books on my Ipad or online. Tink, tink, tink -- Longmire fell into place. And....I'm reading!
The best thing about the entire situation?? The Longmire book series continues!! In fact, Craig Johnson just put out a new book in the series in 2019. The television series might be finished, but I can still get my Longmire fix! Yahooooo! Vic is still salty. Henry Standing Bear is still spiritual. Longmire still catches the bad guys. I love it!
Ok....well I suppose I am technically supposed to be reviewing Another Man's Moccasins -- the 4th book in the Longmire series. Through the lovely offerings of my library peeps, I am listening to the audio book versions of the first few books. The holiday season does not lend itself to long reading jags....so while cooking, cleaning, and doing the usual festivities, I have been listening to George Guidall read Johnson's book to me. Guidall is an excellent voice actor....he brings the story to life. I still see the television actors from the series in my head (I have to imagine Katee Sackoff with dark hair though since the book description of the character is so different from the actress) as I listen.(Casting was excellent for that show!)
The story is part flashback to Walt's time in Vietnam during the war and part present day. A Vietnamese woman is found dead along the side of the highway. Turns out, the death is related to one Walt investigated while in Vietnam.
This book series has won awards for a reason. The stories are always well-written with strong, developed characters. I love the mix of humor, police investigation and tribal culture.
I don't usually care for stories that pop back and forth in time, but in this case it worked. The story grabbed my attention in the first few pages and kept it until the very end. Definitely another great story in this series!
There are currently 15 books in the Walt Longmire series, plus a few novellas published in between full-length books. I'm moving on to #5 -- The Dark Horse.
July 15, 2023
The publisher's blurb for this book, reprinted at the head of this Goodreads page, is accurate up to the end of paragraph three, so my comments will start at that point. The photo they find in the dead woman's purse isn't just hauntingly familiar to Walt--he recognizes it right away. It's a snapshot of Walt himself with an attractive woman named Mai Kim in a bar in Vietnam, and it was taken in late 1967 or early 1968.
The mystery of why the murder victim drove all the way from Los Angeles to Absaroka County, Wyoming, with a photograph of the sheriff of that county, Walt Longmire, forms the link between two interspersed story lines, both of which are narrated in first person by Walt. Conveniently for us, each of the stories has its own typeface, because we certainly go back and forth between them. This structure didn't work as well for me as it might have (and seems to have for other readers).
The present-day storyline--the Wyoming story--has everything I look forward to since reading the first two books in this series, but there's just not as much to it as there was in those other two. I wish we could have seen more of that giant Crow (Absaroka) named Virgil White Buffalo and his connections to other Native Americans; he's a splendidly imagined character. The older immigrant from Vietnam is appropriately hard to figure out, and there's something odd about the links across the generations there. There's a good deal of heart-warming interactions among our familiar characters, and I'd have welcomed more of that too.
What makes the Wyoming story a very slim, short novel (longer than a novella but not much) is the Vietnam story, set in the weeks that led up to the Tet offensive. It's important for the series because it was Walt's first case in law enforcement; as a MOS 0111 investigator with the U.S. Marine Corps, he was sent to the Air Force base at Tan Son Nhut to look into illegal drug activity. Not homicide as the blurb suggests--that murder happened to someone he met during his six-week stay, and he does what he can to solve it, but his mission will only be successful if and when he finds the drug dealer on the base.
All in all, there's very little investigation of either of the crimes in the Vietnam story--what there is is an effective trip into the heart of a war, and it has all the disjointedness and disorder that war creates in people's attempts to do what needs to get done. We get a brief view of Walt's friend from Wyoming, Henry Standing Bear, who's with the Special Operations Group of the Military Assistance Command. That's right, special ops, and it helped me to understand the Bear a little bit better. And there's a lot to chew over about the life of Vietnamese women, both there and here, putting the two stories together in my mind.
The Vietnam story was about a third of the word count and tough to read; the Wyoming story was about two-thirds and delightful to read. So I'll say 3.5 stars, automatically rounded up. Oh, for a ten-star system, Goodreads!
The mystery of why the murder victim drove all the way from Los Angeles to Absaroka County, Wyoming, with a photograph of the sheriff of that county, Walt Longmire, forms the link between two interspersed story lines, both of which are narrated in first person by Walt. Conveniently for us, each of the stories has its own typeface, because we certainly go back and forth between them. This structure didn't work as well for me as it might have (and seems to have for other readers).
The present-day storyline--the Wyoming story--has everything I look forward to since reading the first two books in this series, but there's just not as much to it as there was in those other two. I wish we could have seen more of that giant Crow (Absaroka) named Virgil White Buffalo and his connections to other Native Americans; he's a splendidly imagined character. The older immigrant from Vietnam is appropriately hard to figure out, and there's something odd about the links across the generations there. There's a good deal of heart-warming interactions among our familiar characters, and I'd have welcomed more of that too.
What makes the Wyoming story a very slim, short novel (longer than a novella but not much) is the Vietnam story, set in the weeks that led up to the Tet offensive. It's important for the series because it was Walt's first case in law enforcement; as a MOS 0111 investigator with the U.S. Marine Corps, he was sent to the Air Force base at Tan Son Nhut to look into illegal drug activity. Not homicide as the blurb suggests--that murder happened to someone he met during his six-week stay, and he does what he can to solve it, but his mission will only be successful if and when he finds the drug dealer on the base.
All in all, there's very little investigation of either of the crimes in the Vietnam story--what there is is an effective trip into the heart of a war, and it has all the disjointedness and disorder that war creates in people's attempts to do what needs to get done. We get a brief view of Walt's friend from Wyoming, Henry Standing Bear, who's with the Special Operations Group of the Military Assistance Command. That's right, special ops, and it helped me to understand the Bear a little bit better. And there's a lot to chew over about the life of Vietnamese women, both there and here, putting the two stories together in my mind.
The Vietnam story was about a third of the word count and tough to read; the Wyoming story was about two-thirds and delightful to read. So I'll say 3.5 stars, automatically rounded up. Oh, for a ten-star system, Goodreads!
July 2, 2008
ANOTHER MAN’S MOCCASINS (Pol. Proc-Walt Longmire-Wyoming-Cont) – Ex
Johnson, Craig – 4th in series
Viking, 2008, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780670018611
First Sentence: “Two more.”
The past links to the present for Sheriff Walt Longmire when the body of a young Vietnamese woman is found. In her purse is a picture of a young Longmire and a bar girl he befriended while stationed in Vietnam.
Boy, can this guy write. With each book, I am even more impressed.
Although this was a very personal story for Longmire, who is a strong, very well-defined character, the full cast of characters was there and each was significant.
Johnson’s sense of place is excellent and his dialogue is on the mark. He knows how to add a touch of humor to a very serious theme and make it work. I’ve never started one of Johnson’s books with reading it straight through to the end, and this was no exception.
Vietnam was the war of my generation; friends who fought in it, friends who died in it and I’ve read numerous accounts of it. Johnson conveyed all of what I know but added to that as well. I highly recommend reading the Longmire series from the beginning. Each book is excellent in its own right.
Johnson, Craig – 4th in series
Viking, 2008, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780670018611
First Sentence: “Two more.”
The past links to the present for Sheriff Walt Longmire when the body of a young Vietnamese woman is found. In her purse is a picture of a young Longmire and a bar girl he befriended while stationed in Vietnam.
Boy, can this guy write. With each book, I am even more impressed.
Although this was a very personal story for Longmire, who is a strong, very well-defined character, the full cast of characters was there and each was significant.
Johnson’s sense of place is excellent and his dialogue is on the mark. He knows how to add a touch of humor to a very serious theme and make it work. I’ve never started one of Johnson’s books with reading it straight through to the end, and this was no exception.
Vietnam was the war of my generation; friends who fought in it, friends who died in it and I’ve read numerous accounts of it. Johnson conveyed all of what I know but added to that as well. I highly recommend reading the Longmire series from the beginning. Each book is excellent in its own right.
April 18, 2025
Another good one in the Longmire series.
I liked the transition with the Vietnam war, especially since I am also listening to The Women in the car right now and in a clear mindset of the Vietnamese War.
The FBI was an interesting transition, and you can definitely tell the small-town biases that come into play.
It is definitely a good one to help show the depth of character from the two main men.
4 Stars
I liked the transition with the Vietnam war, especially since I am also listening to The Women in the car right now and in a clear mindset of the Vietnamese War.
The FBI was an interesting transition, and you can definitely tell the small-town biases that come into play.
It is definitely a good one to help show the depth of character from the two main men.
4 Stars
February 17, 2017
I love this series, but didn't particularly like the flashback scenes.
Character List
Character List
December 20, 2018
Another Man's Moccasins follows Abasroka County Sheriff Walt Longmire's investigation into the murder of a young Vietnamese woman while paralleling the murder investigation that he conducted 40 years ago while serving as a Marine in the Vietnam War in 1968. The story alternates between the two stories with each chapter, as the similarities Walt faces similar circumstances of organizational corruption and human trafficking sadly of which Vietnam has a long history of in one way or another. A suspect presents itself in the form of Virgil White Buffalo, a member of the local Crow tribe and Vietnam veteran himself, who Walt suspects didn't commit the murder.
Craig Johnson's fourth entry in the Walt Longmire series is serviceable but at times uninteresting, and because of that falls flat in certain areas. It was interesting to read about Walt's service in Vietnam, but as the story concluded it didn't feel such an investment to know exactly what he experienced over there, other than to say it was a clusterf*ck of high proportions. The antagonists weren't particularly well developed either, but it was an interesting read nonetheless.
Rating 2.5/5
Craig Johnson's fourth entry in the Walt Longmire series is serviceable but at times uninteresting, and because of that falls flat in certain areas. It was interesting to read about Walt's service in Vietnam, but as the story concluded it didn't feel such an investment to know exactly what he experienced over there, other than to say it was a clusterf*ck of high proportions. The antagonists weren't particularly well developed either, but it was an interesting read nonetheless.
Rating 2.5/5
February 5, 2013
A murdered Vietnamese woman and a giant Indian as the primary suspect shine a light on Walt Longmire's past.
Craig Johnson shows that he can deftly handle two stories at once as we bounce back and forth between the present and Longmire's Viet Nam military service.
Craig Johnson shows that he can deftly handle two stories at once as we bounce back and forth between the present and Longmire's Viet Nam military service.
October 7, 2022
Just another great read in this series. Just enough humor…just enough suspense…just enough intrigue ….
April 30, 2020
A young Vietnamese woman is found brutally murdered in a country ditch. Nearby, a Native American, Virgil White Buffalo, is found living in a tunnel. A man of little words who is quite intimidating by his size along, Virgil offers little information on what has happened. However, in his possession is the woman's purse, which actually contains a picture of a woman Walt knew while fighting in Vietnam. And in the background of the pictures sits a young Walt Longmire.
While the reader is learning all about the present day murder, Johnson offers extensive flashbacks which tells of a murder Walt investigated while station in Vietnam. The stories go back and forth and in the end, intersect in dramatic fashion.
I have to admit that I wasn't wholly invested in the mystery in this installment. I think the flashback sections became too much for me as I've never been a big fan of war movies or books. What I did like about the book was all our familiar characters are back in full force. Vic is present once again and she and Walt are trying to figure out where to go after the events in the last book. Henry once again is helping Walt with both investigations, and Ruby is still holding down the fort manning the sheriff's office. I do enjoy the banter between Walt and Ruby. For example, when he calls her on the radio, he starts singing songs with "ruby" in them to much of her disdain. And once again, Dog makes a brief appearance and Walt finally admits that he's never going to name him anything else.
I enjoyed the ending but had figured out a piece of the mystery before it happened. However, Johnson did manage to throw a few curve balls. As I mentioned, reading one of these books each month is seeming too much like a chore so I'll be moving on to another series next month for the project between myself and Stormi. However, I still think from time to time I'll pick up a Longmire book knowing there's no real pressure to finish it on a deadline. I also still think part of the problem is that I enjoyed the TV series much more than the books and it is kind of interfering with my reading progression.
While the reader is learning all about the present day murder, Johnson offers extensive flashbacks which tells of a murder Walt investigated while station in Vietnam. The stories go back and forth and in the end, intersect in dramatic fashion.
I have to admit that I wasn't wholly invested in the mystery in this installment. I think the flashback sections became too much for me as I've never been a big fan of war movies or books. What I did like about the book was all our familiar characters are back in full force. Vic is present once again and she and Walt are trying to figure out where to go after the events in the last book. Henry once again is helping Walt with both investigations, and Ruby is still holding down the fort manning the sheriff's office. I do enjoy the banter between Walt and Ruby. For example, when he calls her on the radio, he starts singing songs with "ruby" in them to much of her disdain. And once again, Dog makes a brief appearance and Walt finally admits that he's never going to name him anything else.
I enjoyed the ending but had figured out a piece of the mystery before it happened. However, Johnson did manage to throw a few curve balls. As I mentioned, reading one of these books each month is seeming too much like a chore so I'll be moving on to another series next month for the project between myself and Stormi. However, I still think from time to time I'll pick up a Longmire book knowing there's no real pressure to finish it on a deadline. I also still think part of the problem is that I enjoyed the TV series much more than the books and it is kind of interfering with my reading progression.
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