Wait for Signs

August 25, 2014
The perfect way to bide your time between the release of a new full-length Walt Longmire mystery and the start of the next season of A&E’s Longmire, this story collection featuring the iconic Wyoming sheriff is a must. Johnson (Any Other Name) pens a new Longmire tale every December, and now they’re all available in one volume, including a brand new story, “Petunia, Bandit Queen of the Bighorns.” (Petunia is the name of a prized sheep with an unusual wool pattern resembling her floral namesake.) Several entries delve deeper into Walt’s past, especially his relationship with his deceased wife, Martha. In “Slick-Tongued Devil,” set six years after Martha’s death, Walt encounters a Bible salesman who ignites a flare of grief for the sheriff when he insists that Martha just recently ordered a new Bible. On a lighter note, Walt and the elderly Cheyenne Lonnie Little Bird—a series character readers whom will instantly recognize—help foil a poorly executed diner robbery in “Old Indian Trick.” These brief snippets of Walt Longmire’s life underscore his solid position as one of the most memorable characters in crime fiction today. Six-city author tour. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents.

Starred review from September 1, 2014

For a decade, Johnson (Any Other Name) has sent out a new Walt Longmire short story each Christmas Eve. Now those stories, along with a new one, "Petunia, Bandit Queen of the Bighorns," are collected into one volume. For fans of Johnson's Absaroka County sheriff, all the familiar characters fill these stories--Walt, Vic, Henry, Cady, and of course the wild, open spaces of Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains. Several pieces mention Martha, Walt's wife, who has died, and readers can sense his loss and loneliness. "Slick-Tongued Devil" tells of a Bible salesman trying to cash in on Walt's grief. Always outsmarting the bad guys, Walt's razor-sharp intellect and reasoning win out in every story. VERDICT Fans of the books and the A&E series will treasure this volume, which includes an introduction by Lou Diamond Phillips (who plays Henry Standing Bear in Longmire), as the stories supplement Johnson's 11 mystery novels; readers can never get enough of the characters and hope that another new story will fill their Christmas stockings. [See Prepub Alert, 4/21/14.]--Patricia Ann Owens, formerly with Illinois Eastern Community Colls., Mt. Carmel

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2014
Every year, Johnson e-mails friends and fans a brand-new short story on Christmas Eve. These charmingly informal mailings have sometimes arrived as Word attachments and, delightfully, even included a typo or two. Given the success of the Walt Longmire series and the Longmire TV show, it's welcome, if unsurprising, to see these 12 talesone of them is newpolished and published between two covers. While some of them have a heartwarming holiday feel, Johnson also takes the opportunity to visit the ghosts of his folksy but erudite sheriff's Christmases past and explore events outside the chronology of the 10 full-length novels. Old Indian Trick, Fire Bird, and High Holidays are funny mini-whodunits; Ministerial Aid and Slick-Tongued Devil show Walt drinking hard and grieving his late wife; Several Stations delivers an act of Christmas cheer; and Divorce Horse and Messenger offer a bit more meat at longer lengths. Read straight through, these once-a-year gifts betray a slight sameness, so sample, savor, and save these for special occasions. Lou Diamond Phillips, who plays Henry Standing Bear on TV, provides an introduction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)