40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Marvellous - 6 stars at the least!, May 11, 2005
In Wyoming where the endless beauty of nature gives you the chance to let your spirit flow freely, things take time - and that is good.
Craig Johnson uses that time to paint a wonderful picture of the setting and to introduce us to a cast of characters any reader would dream of. Although they say it's a mystery - and they're right - there is also so much more. It's a tale about the people, their stories and the magical countryside.
True, other writers have written about this part of the world, but when Craig Johnson paints the story, you can feel the wind blow and even hear the snowflakes fall. Every detail that is mentioned helps you sense the atmosphere and lets you create your own picture in your head without ever being overdone.
It is not one of those fast who-dun-it mysteries that keep you chasing after the clues. But that doesn't mean you'll lose your patience - the storyline is much too good for that.
Sherif Walt Longmire of Absaroka County, together with his friend Henry Standing Bear and Deputy Victoria Moretti must solve the murder of Cody Pritchard, one of four high school boys who, a couple of years earlier had been convicted of brutally raping Melissa, a young Cheyenne girl. Walt never got over the horrible crime, but now it may be only him left standing between the other three boys and the bullets.
It's fiction at its best and it also happens to be a tremendously well written mystery you wouldn't want to end. And when it does you're probably going to start all over right away. A strong tale with great characters you won't forget.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
'The Cold Dish' is a gem of a first novel, June 27, 2006
Discovering a wonderful new author is a special treat for readers, and Craig Johnson's 'The Cold Dish' is especially delicious. Set in a fictional small town in northern Wyoming and featuring grieving, 50-something widower Sheriff Walt Longmire, the book is a beautifully crafted mystery that will hold your attention from the first page. A marvelous supporting cast of eccentric locals including Longmire's best friend, Henry Standing Bear, both assist and hinder the Sheriff as he makes his way through a maze of suspects to solve a grisy series of murders. By the last chapter of this terrific first novel, the reader will feel that he, too, knows the starkly beautiful country at the foot of the Big Horn mountains. A guaranteed great read!
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty Darn Palatable, April 19, 2006
This review is from: The Cold Dish (Walt Longmire Mysteries) (Paperback)
Being in the book business, I'm always on the lookout for the next big thing, the kind of author with so much talent and drive that anyone who buys one of their works will be back the next day to buy the rest. I've seen writers like Lee Child and Michael Connelly go from buzz to best seller, and I love that brief window of opportunity when I can hand sell a relatively unknown author I know will knock people out.
Craig Johnson is a new voice that his publisher Penguin believes can become the next Hillerman. Both Craig and Penguin have sent our bookshop posters, postcards and various promotional items (word to the wise - chocolate and money work best) in order to bring him to the attention of our customers. Johnson's protagonist is Walt Longmire, an aging, small town sheriff in Wyoming. (The aging thing is always a poignant touch, but it can get awkward when it's the starting point in a continuing series - those Vietnam vets aren't going to be able to keep punching people out for very much longer.) Walt's rather pedestrian duties are suddenly enlivened by the death of a young man who had been involved in the gang rape of a Native American girl. When a second guilty party is also killed it becomes apparent that the first death was no accident, and unless the crimes are solved the town could explode.
Longmire is a likeable, gruff and very decent character, a man just emerging from mourning the death of his long time wife, and the reader is drawn effortlessly into his world. Johnson skillfully immerses the reader in the rhythms and mores of the West, smoothly integrating history and folklore into the evocative landscape. Like Hillerman, he captures the dangerous beauty of the area as well as the equally dangerous tensions between the Native Americans and the rest of the community.
I found the middle of the book less compelling, however. Small town policing can get pretty tedious at times, and it's challenging to present that in a way that's true to life yet maintains the pace of the book, a challenge that Johnson's not always up to. I also found some of the characters like the-pithy-member-of-a-minority-best-friend and the-beautiful-rich-woman-known-in-childhood-from-the-other-side-of-the-class-divide to be a little stock.
But the sting is in the tail, as they say, and for me Johnson's ending more than redeemed any reservations I may have had, and in fact turned some of them on their head. He delivers the kind of kick ass, gut wrenching, truly surprising resolution that not too many writers can pull off these days, and it immediately made me yearn for Death Without Company, the next book in the series. Craig Johnson may not be the next big thing, but he'll definitely do until it comes along.
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