Another Man's Moccasins: A Walt Longmire Mystery (Walt Longmire Mysteries)

Another Man's Moccasins: A Walt Longmire Mystery (Walt Longmire Mysteries) | Craig Johnson | Great Series, Getting Even Better!

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Another Man's Mocc...

	Another Man's Moccasins: A Walt Longmire Mystery (Walt Longmire Mysteries) Craig Johnson Viking Adult, 2008 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Walt Longmire unravels a mystery that connects two murders across forty years

When the body of a young Vietnamese woman is found alongside the interstate in Absaroka County, Wyoming, Sherriff Walt Longmire is determined to discover the identity of the victim and is forced to confront the horrible similarities of this murder to that of his first homicide investigation as a marine in Vietnam.

To complicate matters, Virgil White Buffalo, a homeless Crow Indian, is found living in a nearby culvert and in possession of the young woman?s purse. There are only two problems with what appears to be an open-and-shut case. One, the sheriff doesn?t think Virgil White Buffalo?a Vietnam vet with a troubling past?is a murderer. And two, the photo that is found in the woman?s purse looks hauntingly familiar to Walt.

In the fourth book in Craig Johnson?s awardwinning Walt Longmire series, the tough yet tender sheriff solves two murders tied in blood but separated by nearly forty years.

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Excellent police procedural

The caller informs 911 that a female body lies alongside the highway in Absaroka County, Wyoming. Sheriff Walt Longmire goes to investigate. There he finds the corpse of Vietnamese woman Ho Thi Paquet; nearby sitting on the ground holding the victim's purse as if it is sacred is Native American Virgil White Buffalo. However Walt is stunned when he goes through Ho's personal possessions to find a photograph of him when he served as a military inspector in Nam with a Vietnamese barmaid circa 1968.

Walt concludes that the obvious in which Virgil killed Ho is not what happened. He and his friend Native American Henry Standing Bear investigate by trying to follow Ho's recent journey, They are shocked when the paths the young woman took lead back to a West Coast slave trafficking ring and the sheriff's Vietnam duty.

This is the fourth Longmire police procedural (see DEATH WITHOUT COMPANY, COLD DISH and KINDNESS GOES UNPUNISHED), but this reviewer's first; based on this superb tale this reviewer will have to go back to read them. The whodunit is fun to follow, but the look back to Walt's war time makes for a superior read as the present connects to four decades ago. Sub-genre fans will appreciate this engaging, engrossing thriller that ties late 1960s Viet Nam and 2008 Wyoming effortlessly together.

Harriet Klausner

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Great Series, Getting Even Better!

Craig Johnson's character development of Sheriff Walt Longmire and his companions continues to develop powerfully. This one also has a tightly developed plot, and is a great read.

Reviewing: "Another Man's Moccasins" by Craig Johnson

"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 most complicated venues it's the terrorists, its serial killers, or it's gang-related, but for the western sheriff it's always been the body dump. To the north, Sheridan County has two unsolved, and Natrona County to the south has five; up until twenty-eight minutes ago, we'd had none. There you stand by some numbered roadway with a victim, no ID, no crime scene, no suspects, nothing." (Page 15)

If you haven't read a novel in the Sheriff Walt Longmire series written by Craig Johnson you have missed a real treat. From "The Cold Dish" to "Death Without Company" and the previous novel, "Kindness Goes Unpunished" the author has developed not only a fascinating and complex hero in Walt Longmine, but numerous secondary characters that are just as alive and vital as Walt is to readers. That continues here with his latest release "Another Man's Moccasins" which begins two months after events depicted in "Kindness Goes Unpunished."

Sheriff Walt Longmine has returned home to Wyoming and is dealing with the personal and family repercussions of recent events as best as he can. Progress is slow, but steady. At the same time, the recent events have triggered in some way flash backs for Walt of his time in Vietnam shortly before the Tet Offensive in 1968.

The discovery of a Vietnamese woman in a ditch doesn't help his contemplative mood or his ability to ignore the past. Summer in Absaroka County is supposed to mean vacation season with folks coming to the rodeo. It isn't supposed to mean death. The woman was strangled at first and then whoever did it squeezed her neck too hard and broke it, before dumping her lifeless body in the ditch. When Sheriff Longmire checks the nearby culvert he is attacked by a violent homeless man who also has the dead women's purse. In that purse is a picture of a much younger Walt Longmire, playing a piano half a world away in a bar in Vietnam. A picture that includes a woman who worked in that bar and who bore a striking resemblance to the dead young woman found in the ditch.

With a flashback for nearly every step forward in the investigation, this novel serves to not only tell an interesting contemporary story it also fills in a major part of the Walt Longmire's life long before he came home and started his 24 years and counting Sheriff's career. Another election is coming and this is a novel where Walt is not only feeling his age but also finding that so much of his personal life is no longer under his control. The past is never truly past and Walt is attempting to put it back in its tiny compartment and failing because of so many reminders.

Readers that expect the body to fall in a prologue or certainly by paragraph 3 of the first page because that seems to be the rage these days according to writer's magazines and some publishers will be disappointed as the body doesn't fall for about 15 pages. Readers that hate flashbacks will be annoyed as the secondary storyline flashbacks number in the double digits and begin before the first body drops.

However, readers who like series featuring characters that become part of the family, books that build on top of each other building depth and life to characters in arcs that carry from one novel to the next, and books that showcase characters that evolve will love this latest novel of the series. Once again Craig Johnson weaves a tale full of the best of people in a morality play set against the backdrop of the Big Horn Mountains.

"Another Man's Moccasins" is another very good read in a series that is overall very good. Reminiscent of the work by James Lee Burke regarding descriptions, the effect here is just as good and yet at the same time different with Craig Johnson's own edge. While James Lee Burke's work these days is pitched against the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina, Craig Johnson's work remains focused more on the basic notion of good and evil and at times, the plight of the American Indian. Unlike Burke who let his editorializing dominate recent releases to the detriment of the story, Craig Jonson consistently puts story first and anything else secondary.

The result is another very good read and one that needs to be read after "Kindness Goes Unpunished." I would recommend reading the entire series in order if these books are new to you.

Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2008

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A super 5-star read

Sheriff Walt Longmire is back on the job in Wyoming and anxious to help get his daughter Cady back in shape after her accident back in Philadelphia. Walt has brought her home to recover and she is gaining back her strength and her memory, although it is slow going.

Walt's attention is taken away from Cady when he is called to a scene where a Vietnamese woman's body is found alongside the interstate. When Walt goes to investigate a nearby culvert he discovers Virgil, White Buffalo, a homeless Crow Indian. What part, if any, Virgil played in the death of the young woman is something that Walt is determined to find out. Walt's gut feeling is that Virgil was not involved in the murder but he takes Virgil into custody until he can get further into the investigation.

The young woman that was murdered reminds Walt of his time in Vietnam and the story goes back and forth between the present time and Walt's time in the service. Henry Standing Bear, Walt's good friend, spent time in Vietnam with Walt and is now spending time assisting Cady in her recovery as well as helping Walt work out all the unanswered questions presented by this murder. Henry seems to have the ability to bring up questions that Walt really does not want to hear-and this makes for some interesting conversations.

Craig Johnson's books have been very successful and this one is probably the best so far in my opinion. I love the characters and Virgil White Buffalo is someone I won't soon forget.

Armchair Interviews says: Craig Johnson has done it again.

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Out of the past

Walt Longmire, the sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, finds himself in the midst of a mystery derived from his service in Vietnam around the time of the Tet offensive. A young Vietnamese woman is found murdered near the interstate with Walt's picture in her purse. The picture was taken at a bar during the war and shows a woman with whom he had been friendly. The murder victim resembles the woman in the photo, and Walt thinks that perhaps she is that woman's granddaughter.

So much for the beginnings of the mystery. From that point, the novel progresses on two planes, juxtaposing memories of Walt's experiences in Vietnam and the investigation into the murder. It is a richly rewarding tale, with haunting memories of the Vietnam War, with Walt having to solve two mysteries separated by 40 years.

This novel is the fourth in the series and the Wyoming setting is certainly different from most other mysteries. The inclusion of a ghost town may be symbolic--the ghosts of the past continue to haunt the present. Written sparingly, but forcefully, the tale is gripping, and the book is highly recommended.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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