Another Man’s Moccasins by Craig Johnson

22. – 485.) Another Man’s Moccasins by Craig Johnson – Sheriff Walt Longmire is back in Durant helping Cady recover from the injuries she suffered in Philadelphia. The body of a young Vietnamese woman is found just off the highway near the Hole-in-the-Wall. Longmire is exploring a large nearby culvert when a pile of refuse explodes into a 7’ Crow Indian who is barely subdued by a collection of officers. Finding the woman with a photo of himself and a bar girl taken in Vietnam in early 1968 sends Longmire flashing back to his war. As he works on the puzzle of a Vietnamese woman, who could not be a daughter, seeking him out 40 years later Longmire relives the war where he was a Marine investigator investigating drug trafficking. In Vietnam he endures intense trauma from which he has never truly recovered. Moving back and forth in time Longmire also occasionally finds himself in the spirit world. Ruby, his longtime administrative assistant, says he cares more about the dead than the living. I was surprised to read Longmire is a skilled pianist especially on popular favourites of the first half of the 20^th Century. As noted in my last review the relationship of Longmire and Henry Standing Bear reminds of Spenser and Hawk. Each duo is a pair of big powerful men of different races accustomed to violence who have reached middle age. Longmire and Spenser share a classic stubborn integrity. They differ in that Standing Bear, unlike Hawk, is a moral man. The mystery unfolds fairly but I never saw the solution coming. It is a rare mystery that could combine parallel stories from Vietnam and Wyoming. Longmire reminds of the even more tortured myster veterans of World War I – Ian Rutledge (Charles Todd), John Madden (Rennie Airth) and Maisie Dobbs (Jacqueline Winspear). Ninety years after the Great War Longmire bears the physical scars and suffers the emotional turmoil of his war. I raced through the book eager to know what was on the next page. At their best Michael Connelly and Robert Crais are just as compelling. I can hardly wait for my next chance to return to Absaroka County. Excellent. (June 6/09)