Product Description

Walt Longmire unravels a mystery that connects two murders across forty years

When the body of a young Vietnamese woman is found alongside the interstate in Absaroka County, Wyoming, Sherriff Walt Longmire is determined to discover the identity of the victim and is forced to confront the horrible similarities of this murder to that of his first homicide investigation as a marine in Vietnam.

To complicate matters, Virgil White Buffalo, a homeless Crow Indian, is found living in a nearby culvert and in possession of the young woman’s purse. There are only two problems with what appears to be an open-and-shut case. One, the sheriff doesn’t think Virgil White Buffalo—a Vietnam vet with a troubling past—is a murderer. And two, the photo that is found in the woman’s purse looks hauntingly familiar to Walt.

In the fourth book in Craig Johnson’s awardwinning Walt Longmire series, the tough yet tender sheriff solves two murders tied in blood but separated by nearly forty years.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #804600 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-29
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. At the start of Johnson's stellar fourth mystery to feature Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire (after 2007's Kindness Goes Unpunished), Walt responds to a call that leads to the discovery of the body of a young Vietnamese woman, Ho Thi Paquet, along an Absaroka County highway. Squatting nearby with Paquet's purse is a massive Crow Indian later identified as Virgil White Buffalo. When Walt finds a photograph of himself and a Vietnamese barmaid taken in 1968 among the victim's belongings, Walt realizes that the murder isn't as clear-cut as it appears. With the help of his longtime friend, Cheyenne Indian Henry Standing Bear, Walt retraces Paquet's steps and uncovers disturbing links to a California human trafficking ring as well as to his own past as a military inspector in Vietnam. Vivid war flashbacks give a glimpse of a younger but no less determined Walt. Full of crackling dialogue, this absorbing tale demonstrates that Longmire is still the sheriff in town. 4-city author tour. (June)
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From Booklist
In Kindness Goes Unpunished (2007), Absaroka County, Wyoming, Sheriff Walt Longmire took a road trip to Philadelphia. In a sense, he’s on the road this time, too, but his traveling takes place inside his head, after the discovery of the body of a young Vietnamese woman prompts memories of Walt’s first homicide investigation as a marine in Vietnam. It isn’t just the victim’s origins that send Walt down a nightmare-cluttered memory lane; found with her belongings is a picture of another Vietnamese woman, who looks strikingly like someone Walt knew very well more than 40 years earlier. Juxtaposing the current investigation against flashbacks to Vietnam, Johnson is able to reveal several new layers to the fascinating character of the aging, kindly, homespun sheriff and his best friend, Henry Standing Bear, who served with him in Vietnam. This series has distinguished itself so far with its rich portrayal of human relationships and daily life in small-town Wyoming. Those characteristics are well in evidence here, but the addition of the vivid and powerful Vietnam scenes provides a welcome jolt of frisson. --Bill Ott

Review
" Stellar . . . Full of crackling dialogue, this absorbing tale demonstrates that Longmire is still the sheriff in town."
-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

" An insightful look at various forms of racism, human trafficking, and confronting your own prejudices."
-Detroit Free Press

Customer Reviews

Excellent police procedural
The caller informs 911 that a female body lies alongside the highway in Absaroka County, Wyoming. Sheriff Walt Longmire goes to investigate. There he finds the corpse of Vietnamese woman Ho Thi Paquet; nearby sitting on the ground holding the victim's purse as if it is sacred is Native American Virgil White Buffalo. However Walt is stunned when he goes through Ho's personal possessions to find a photograph of him when he served as a military inspector in Nam with a Vietnamese barmaid circa 1968.

Walt concludes that the obvious in which Virgil killed Ho is not what happened. He and his friend Native American Henry Standing Bear investigate by trying to follow Ho's recent journey, They are shocked when the paths the young woman took lead back to a West Coast slave trafficking ring and the sheriff's Vietnam duty.

This is the fourth Longmire police procedural (see DEATH WITHOUT COMPANY, COLD DISH and KINDNESS GOES UNPUNISHED), but this reviewer's first; based on this superb tale this reviewer will have to go back to read them. The whodunit is fun to follow, but the look back to Walt's war time makes for a superior read as the present connects to four decades ago. Sub-genre fans will appreciate this engaging, engrossing thriller that ties late 1960s Viet Nam and 2008 Wyoming effortlessly together.

Harriet Klausner

The very best yet
Having been a Craig Johnson fan since The Cold Dish, seeing the growth of this amazing author is a thrill in itself. With Another Man's Moccasins, he has taken a giant leap into serious literature (but with, of course, his characteristic humor ever-present). After the body of a young girl is found dumped by the side of the highway, Sheriff Longmire also discovers a huge, and hugely troubled Indian living in a culvert near the girl's body. These two threads take Walt and Henry Standing Bear back to their memories of Vietnam in fascinating ways as they seek to discover the girl's murderer and the story behind the disturbed Indian. The cast is all there: Vic, Ruby, Sancho, Lucian (in one of his most powerful scenes to date), Cady, and others. The writing is stellar as we've come to expect. What sets Another Man's Moccasins in a league of its own is that it is so profoundly gut-wrenching and powerful. The contrast between present day Absaroka County and Walt's memories of Vietnam disturb both Walt and the reader. And the story behind the Big Indian is a heart breaker more profound than one can imagine. How Craig Johnson created this extraordinary book is a mark of his incredible talent and growing maturity. I've loved every one of the three former books but Another Man's Moccasins towers above his earlier works. An absolute must read, and certainly not just for mystery readers. This book is powerful literature for anyone interested in issues of living with oneself, injustice, Vietnam, venality, or the human spirit as it tries to make its way in the world. Craig Johnson has outdone himself and we readers are the fortunate recipients.

Shoes hard to fill
Craig Johnson is at the top of his genre with characters who feel like family and believable intricate plots. His dialogue is sharp and entertaining and rings absolutely true. He likes BIG men, physical giants, powerful in every way, capable of wreaking havoc and taking incredible physical abuse, but they're sleepers - quiet and self-deprecating and wry. Because each plot occurs on the heels of the previous, there's a continuum in the lives of his ever-expanding cast. This novel's crime leads Craig's sheriff Longmire back in time to Vietnam.