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Book Review of The Highwayman (Longmire)

The Highwayman (Longmire)
cathyskye avatar reviewed on + 2349 more book reviews


I'm such a Craig Johnson fan that I don't care if what he writes is short like this novella or a full-length book, as long as the man keeps writing. As popular as he's become, I have to wonder how on earth he finds the time to write because he always seems to be on tour.

Few people can write dialogue like Craig Johnson, and he proves it again here in The Highwayman. Walt and Henry talk to everyone they possibly can to figure out what's going on with Rosey. They uncover a mystery about a missing stash of 1888-O "Hot Lips" Morgan silver dollars. (No, I'm not going to tell you what that "Hot Lips" is all about!) And the deeper they dig, the more they learn about Bobby Womack, a dedicated patrolman who died in a fiery crash in the Wind River Canyon. Some of the things they learn just don't add up the way they should....

Have any of you read Johnson's last novella Spirit of Steamboat? I have, and I still remember those barn-burning action scenes that gave me paper cuts, I was turning the pages so fast. Well, you get more of that kind of action here in The Highwayman. The setting, the characters, the dialogue, the action, the story... you get everything that all we die-hard Craig Johnson fans have come to expect-- even a logical explanation for almost everything.

Trust me. If the only thing you know about Craig Johnson comes from watching the Longmire television series-- as excellent as that series is-- you really, really need to read the books. What better place to start than with The Highwayman? Once you've read this one, you're going to be going back for all the others. Craig Johnson is one of the very best writers in the business.