Cyndi J. (cyndij) reviewed on 2/11/2019 + 1031 more book reviews

Thirteenth in the Longmire series and if I were superstitious I would think, "That explains it". Because this is my least favorite Longmire to date. The story bounces back and forth between today and 1972, when Walt Longmire was a new deputy. Sheriff Lucian Connolly has brought Walt along to the annual sheriff's junket on The Western Star, a train trip across Wyoming and back. On the trip, the president of the Wyoming Sheriff's Association recruits Walt to look into what might be a sheriff's vigilante group, there's conflict involving another sheriff's girlfriend, and another guy has a brother locked in a prison insane asylum. And then the murders begin...In the current day, Walt is there to protest a convicted murderer asking for compassionate release.

Johnson gives us a little homage to Agatha Christie which is fun but this book is mostly downbeat - it's missing the dry humor I like so much. Walt doesn't have any mystical experiences, although perhaps that was getting to be too much of a thing. I did like the back and forth between the time periods, I like seeing Lucian as a younger man and I like Walt's personal doubts about being a deputy. But the timeline didn't make sense to me, if the current story is set today...Walt would be too old. I decided that "today" has to be at least ten years ago. That threw me out of the story for a while. It's certainly a fast read, and there's plenty of action, but very little of any characters other than Walt and Lucian. The end of the 1972 case seems unlikely, the current day ends on a cliffhanger that goes back into the Bidarte thing (I didn't like any of that) and the bit with the vigilante group is unsolved and barely mentioned again. I'm just hoping the Bidarte thing is resolved in Depth of Winter.

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