Death Without Company [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Every once in a while you pick up a book by a new author, not knowing what to expect, and are completely blown away. This happened last year, when I read Craig Johnson's The Cold Dish. Wow! So I was really excited when I saw that his second book, Death Without Company, was out. And frankly, book number two is every bit as good as the first one.

Sheriff Longmire of Wyoming is back with his long-time friend, the intriguing Henry Standing Bear, crusty former Sheriff Lucian Connally, and Deputy Vic Moretti, a transplant from the big city whose bold attitude and colorful language spice up the book. I will warn you, though, this book takes place just a few weeks after the first one and the events of that book are discussed and the ending revealed. If you think you might like these books, read The Cold Dish first.

So what makes these books so good? Just the basics - good writing, setting, plot, characters that are really interesting, and a little humor thrown in. This book flows seamlessly and sucks you into the story of a modern murder and how it might be related to past events - and there are enough suspects populating this book that you have lots of people to audition for the role of bad guy.

This book is not going to be appropriate for cozy-only readers. It's not a hack and slash, but it does have some grit to it. This book reminds me of the early Robert B. Parker Spenser books, and if you enjoyed those, you will find this right up your alley. If you are looking to try something a little outside of your comfort zone, the quality of the writing and the approachable style make this a perfect choice.

Did I guess it? Only parts. Will I read another? Just as soon as it is available!

Craig Johnson grows on one. I was intrigued into reading his first novel, THE COLD DISH, by a review on DorothyL. I wasn't sure what to think of it, for in many ways it turned the rules of mystery writing, if not on their side, at least at a severe angle. Who ever heard of a rural sheriff with a degree in English Literature and who quotes Shakespeare with great regularity? There have been Native American sidekicks before, but rarely one who speaks English with high grammar and never uses a contraction. Said sidekick has a degree in classical literature, but runs a rural bar and is conversant in the languages of four different tribes. And then there is the female deputy-female, mind you, whose favorite word is a four-letter word (or one of its variants) that begins with the letter "f." And the former Sheriff, who still struggles with the fact that the style of law enforcement of the old west is no longer accepted in modern jurisprudence.

However, I was intrigued enough to read Johnson's second book, DEATH WITHOUT COMPANY. I'm glad I did. The same characters are back, as they look into whether the death of an elderly woman in a rest home was a death by natural causes or a murder. In so doing, they look back at the history of Basque sheepherders who settled in Wyoming, after the Second World War, and how their culture and that of the Anglo culture interacted while never mixing.

Sheriff Walt Longmire, a Vietnam War veteran who got his degree in English Literature before being drafted, is the Sheriff of the least-populated county in Wyoming, one that covers about the same number of acres as the State of Vermont. He is sensitive, grieving from the deaths of both his wife, five years earlier, and a woman with whom he was falling in love, in the first novel. His sidekicks are highly educated Cherokee Henry Standing Bear and Deputy Sheriff Victoria "Vic" Moretti, newly separated from her husband and a refugee from the Philadelphia, PA Police Department. Oh yes, she also has a Master's Degree in Law Enforcement. This novel also introduces a new character, Santiago "Sancho" Saizarbitoria, a young, just-out-of-police-academy, educated and married new deputy, who also happens to be of Basque heritage and is a skilled linguist.

Never has rural law enforcement had such a collection of officers-and their education causes them to look at ways of enforcing the law and finding the villains that one would not expect law enforcement to take.

The book is utterly fascinating, and is, in my opinion, better than the first. This one is worth buying AND reading.

This book has a little something for everyone. It's a crime story, a western and a love story, all connected, all liberally sauced with Indian mysticism, and beautifully written to boot.

Throw in Wyoming during a blizzard and you've got so much geography and weather that DEATH WITHOUT COMPANY will blow your hat off.

In one scene Sheriff Walt Longmire and his pick-up posse go to the Busy Bee looking for a killer: "The place was packed as we flooded in, all the patrons freezing at the sight of an armed sheriff, two deputies, an Indian, and a construction worker; we probably looked like the Village People."

And a pop-rock group is about all that's missing here. A brief summary: Sheriff Walt is caught in the snare of two murders that occurred 50 years apart. He has a couple of very close calls but survives with the help of friends and deputies, while the Old Cheyenne pound drums for him in the Camp of the Dead. When he stumbles across the secret that is key to the murders he is stunned to learn how many local folks knew it and never talked about it.

At times I wasn't sure whether Walt is dreaming or hallucinating, but in any event those sequences are beautifully wrought. One of the most interesting characters, and one who keeps showing up in Walt's dreams, is an old Basque woman named Mari.

The catalyst for the story is Mari's death at the Home for Assisted Living. It may not have been as natural as her family would have the sheriff believe. As Walt untangles the threads of Mari's past she always appears in his dreams as the young and beautiful woman she once was.

Henry Standing Bear, the wise and funny old Cheyenne, is a great character, as is Lucian, the retired sheriff, and Sancho, the new deputy.

This is one of the best books I've read this year. If it hasn't won an award or two, there's no justice.