Fly down to the bookstore to buy this one!

AS THE CROW FLIES (Walt Longmire Mysteries #8)
Craig Johnson
Viking Adult
5/15/2012




I would never have read the Walt Longmire mysteries had I not heard Craig Johnson speak at the National Book Festival several years ago. I belong to that generation of Americans whose appetite for Westerns was completely destroyed by TV and Hollywood in the 1950's and 60's. The very notion of a series about a present-day sheriff in Wyoming never appealed even though I was aware of it. However, Mr. Johnson was so humorous and self-deprecating that I had to give the books a try. Now the Walt Longmire series is at the top of my favorites and a must read as soon as a new book is published. So I was thrilled to get an advance copy and dived right in.


Most of the books are set at home in Wyoming, but Johnson has set a book as far afield as Philadelphia. As the Crow Flies takes place closer to home, on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation,"the rez". Walt's Philadelphia lawyer daughter, Cady, is coming home to be married at a spiritually important and scenic site on the rez. Two weeks before the wedding, the arrangement to use the site falls through- a disaster that Walt and his life-long friend, Henry Standing Bear, must try to salvage somehow. As Cady's unofficial "wedding planners", they set out to find another acceptable location. In the course of the search they see a young Crow woman, Audrey Least Bull, plummet to her death from Painted Warrior peak, clutching an infant in her arms.


Mr. Johnson has the skill (and gift) of writing absolutely indelible characters, fully fleshed out human beings with all their quirks and follies. In As the Crow Flies, he introduces another fascinating character, the beautiful Lolo Long, Iraq war veteran and new Tribal Police Chief. Lolo has a whole lot of attitude and seemingly little natural ability for the job. She also appears to have an ax to grind with Henry Standing Bear. As a result of the many deficiencies in Henry's old truck, she even arrests Henry and Walt. Walt, of course feels the need to find out who pushed Audrey to her death and to mentor Lolo through her first major investigation. Many old favorites make an appearance and Henry is very much present. 


I highly recommend As the Crow Flies and if you have not read the series start at the beginning, "The Cold Dish". There is a whole lot of reading pleasure packed into the series if you enjoy well-crafted mysteries, rich characters and a thoroughly decent protagonist in the person of Walt Longmire.


Rating- 5 Stars