When Wyoming highway patrolman Rosey Wayman is transferred to the beautiful and imposing landscape of the Wind River Canyon, an area the troopers refer to as no-man's-land because of the lack of radio communication, she starts receiving “officer needs assistance” calls. The problem? They're coming from Bobby Womack, a legendary Arapaho patrolman who met a fiery death in the canyon almost a half-century ago. With an investigation that spans this world and the next, Sheriff Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear take on a case that pits them against a legend: The Highwayman
CRAIG JOHNSON READS CHAPTER ONE OF THE HIGHWAYMAN
MY REVIEW:
The Highwayman by Craig JohnsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Highwayman by Craig Johnson is a 2016 Viking Books publication.
It feels like it’s been forever since the last Longmire novel and forever since there were any new episodes of ‘Longmire’ to watch on Netflix. So, I have been seriously jonesing for a Walt Longmire fix.
So, thankfully, this novella came along a kept me from having some nasty withdrawal symptoms.
A good storyteller is what makes a ghost story affective, and we all know Craig Johnson can weave a mighty good tale.
As the story opens, Walt is in Wind River Canyon looking in on Rosey Wayman, a highway patrol officer dealing with some peculiar circumstances that has folks worried about her mental state.
Out in ‘ no-man’s land’ where the radio transmissions are mostly just static, Rosey begins picking up ‘officer needs assistance’ calls. But, the real problem is that the person sending these transmissions, Bobby Womack, has been dead for a very long time.
Walt and Henry are on this puzzling case that will challenge Walt’s belief system and send a few shivers up your spine.
This story centers around the Arapaho, Shoshone, and Cherokee legends, against the incredible Wyoming backdrop, and tells an absorbing story of honor and redemption.
“It was strange the paths the human heart chose to take and the attachments it made along the way. The surest sign of the altruistic nature of the organ is its ability to ignore race, color, creed, and gender and just blindly love with all its might- one of the most irrefutable forces on earth.”
I loved the mystery, which is a cold case, and examines the prejudices that tarnished the reputation of a good man. The legend and supernatural tales of “The Highwayman’ would make for some pretty good campfire tales. But, of course, there is a logical explanation for everything…. Right?
If you like Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear, books or TV show, either one, you will want to check out this novella length story, which, despite its brevity, is a very rich and powerful story, with outstanding dialogue, and the writing, as always, is spectacular.
GET YOUR COPY HERE:
https://www.amazon.com/Highwayman-Longmire-Story-Craig-Johnson/dp/0735220891/
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-highwayman-craig-johnson/1123686581
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: American novelist and playwright. He lives in Ucross, near Sheridan, Wyoming, population 25.Johnson has written nine novels featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire: The Cold Dish, Death Without Company, Kindness Goes Unpunished, Another Man's Moccasins, Junkyard Dogs, The Dark Horse (which received starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal, and was named one of Publisher's Weekly's best books of the year in 2009), Hell Is Empty, As The Crow Flies and A Serpent's Tooth. The Cold Dish and The Dark Horse were both Dilys Award finalists, and Death Without Company was named the Wyoming Historical Association's Book of the Year. Another Man's Moccasins received the Western Writers of America Spur Award for best novel of 2008 as well as the Mountains and Plains award for fiction book of the year.
Former police officer; has also worked as an educator, cowboy, and longshoreman.
AWARDS: Tony Hillerman Award for "Old Indian Trick"; fiction book of the year, Wyoming Historical Society, for Death Without Company, Wyoming Council for the Arts Award.
