Junkyard Dogs

April 5, 2010
Johnson's sixth mystery featuring Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire (after 2009's Dark Horse
) will remind readers that a big city isn't necessary for a compelling crime story and enduring hero. One blizzardy February day, Walt and his deputies—Victoria Moretti and Santiago Saizarbitoria—visit the Durant, Wyo., dump, owned by the Stewart family, to investigate a severed thumb found in a discarded cooler. There they discover that the Stewart family patriarch, George, was almost killed after someone dragged him behind a '68 Toronado. Walt winds up playing peacemaker between the cantankerous Stewarts, longtime Durant residents, and the owner of a new housing development bordering the junkyard. When a search of the dump unearths a surprising side business and two deaths follow, Walt realizes he has bigger problems on his hands. Series fans as well as newcomers will cheer the laconic Walt every step of the way. 8-city author tour.

May 15, 2010
In rural Absaroka County, Wyo., where Sheriff Walt Longmire keeps an uneasy peace, junk isn't always junk. It's often worse.

Geo Stewart, 72, is the kind of man broken bones happen to. That's old news to the docs at Durant Memorial Hospital. This time, however, along with a fractured clavicle—the result of being drawn some distance roped to the rear of an ancient Oldsmobile—Geo has a bit of unsettling news for the docs, who will pass it on to Sheriff Longmire, whose life it will immeasurably complicate. When he's not in the hospital, Geo is steward of the Durant dump, which he prefers to call the"Municipal Solid Waste Facility." In this capacity, he's found a severed thumb. Since no one has reported it missing, Sheriff Walt has a mystery on his hands. And since nothing is ever as easy in Absaroka County as counting noses, or digits, the mystery will only deepen and develop links to other local mysteries, such as exactly what kind of crop is being harvested in a certain Durant basement, or who's responsible for the sudden surge in the county homicide rate. Or, knottiest of all, what to do about the unseemly, ongoing romantic comedy starring grizzled, wintry Walt and Deputy Victoria Moretti, his feisty, foul-mouthed, adorable girl of summer.

It's hard to imagine a more likable lawman than Sheriff Walt (The Dark Horse, 2009, etc.). Thumbs up.

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Starred review from May 1, 2010
After a severed thumb turns up at the dump outside of Durant, Wyoming, Sheriff Walt Longmire ignores the fact that someone has claimed it. He needs a mystery to keep Deputy Santiago Saizarbitoria, whos suffering from bullet fever, on the job until he can think of a way to keep him from quitting. Its just that sort of kindness that defines Longmire, whose unwillingness to assume the worst leads to him getting pepper-sprayed, bit in the ass, and very nearly shot. Like any good mystery, this depends less on the plot than its depiction of interesting people in an interesting place. But, as the story ambles along, with Walt taking a lot of ragging from the people who work for him (including exPhilly cop and love interest Victoria Moretti), the severed thumb points the way through a surprisingly twisty mystery that involves junkmen, land developers, and a creepy ex-convict. And, as he proved in last years terrific Dark Horse, Johnsona born storyteller if ever there was onecan do one hell of a set piece in a snowstorm (even with a limping, overweight sheriff). Longmire may be contemplating early retirement, but readers will demand that he serve out his full term of serviceand run for reelection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)