Dry Bones

March 30, 2015
At the start of bestseller Johnson’s intricately plotted 11th Walt Longmire novel (after 2014’s Any Other Name), the Wyoming sheriff helps pull the corpse of Danny Lone Elk, a Cheyenne rancher, from a turtle pond on his ranch. Did Danny die of natural or unnatural causes? Walt soon suspects murder, given the uproar that arises over the recent discovery by local paleontologists of a nearly complete T. rex skeleton—nicknamed Jen after the scientist who unearthed her—on Danny’s property. A fight brews among the U.S. government, Absaroka County’s own High Plains Dinosaur Museum, and the Lone Elk family, who claim that Jen belongs to the Cheyenne tribe. Meanwhile, Walt (who is white) is hit with an unexpected personal loss (“It just seems like I made this deal with the universe to serve and protect, and in return, little by little, I get everything I care about taken away from me”). This steadfast character never disappoints the reader: he’s a hero through thick and thin. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents.

April 15, 2015
Something old and something new spell big problems for Sheriff Walt Longmire. Walt and Undersheriff Victoria Moretti have been called out to take a look at a body found in a pond. The corpse is that of elderly Cheyenne Danny Lone Elk, part owner of a large cattle ranch. It will take an autopsy to determine the cause of death because Danny's remains have furnished several meals for the turtles he considered sacred. Nearby, Walt and Vic run into a problem on the site of the discovery of a dinosaur fossil dubbed Jen, after finder Jennifer Watt, who along with paleontologist Dave Baumann objects to the use of a backhoe to dig up the valuable beast. The Lone Elk family claims Jen's remains, but Baumann insists that he had his own deal with Danny. Into this heated dispute steps the acting deputy U.S. attorney, who plans to score political points by seizing Jen for the state of Wyoming. While the interested parties wrangle over the bones, Walt welcomes his daughter, Cady, and granddaughter, Lola. They're barely settled at Walt's home when Cady gets a call that her husband, Michael, a Philadelphia police officer and Vic's brother, has been shot and killed in a way that hints it might be payback for one of Walt and Vic's past cases. She and Vic return east while Walt stays behind to work, without Vic's help, on what's now recognized as the fatal mercury poisoning of Danny Lone Elk. With the help of his friend Henry, better known as the Cheyenne Nation, Walt escapes from several dangerous situations in the rough country of Lone Elk Ranch while trying to determine who wanted the old man dead and whether his death is tied to Jen, whose estimated value provides 8 million motives for murder. Johnson's crusty sheriff (Any Other Name, 2014, etc.) remains tough, smart, honest, and capable of entertaining fans with another difficult, dangerous case.

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May 1, 2015
When the largest known T. rex skeleton is unearthed on private land in Absaroka County, Wyoming, it seems like a miracleuntil the landowner, an elderly Cheyenne rancher named Danny Lone Elk, is found dead in a pond. Sheriff Walt Longmire just wants to get to the bottom of the murder, but his task is made more difficult by a publicity-hungry acting deputy U.S. attorney who's determined to make a federal case out of who owns the bones. The mystery and the many characters with motive, means, and opportunity are really just an excuse for readers to spend time with Walt; his foul-mouthed but beautiful undersheriff, Vic; best friend Henry Standing Bear; and their supporting cast. After a couple of midseries turns toward action and adventure, Johnson now almost seems headed toward cozy territory, which is no knock. Genial humor, a touch of the paranormal, and violence that rarely leaves much of a mark (save for one significant off-camera killing) are just what the doctor ordered in this series continuation by the expert storyteller who inspired the popular TV show Longmire.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2014

Johnson's New York Times best-selling Longmire mystery series spawned the eponymous TV adaptation, which was A&E's most-watched original drama series ever until its cancellation last August. This next book in the series stars the most complete fossil of a Tyrannosaurus rex ever found. Its discovery has little to do with Sheriff Walt Longmire--until the original claimant, a Cheyenne rancher, is found drowned.

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