The Longmire Defense (Walt Longmire Series #19)

by Craig Johnson

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Craig Johnson delivers (again) in a whodunit full of all the misdirection needed to keep the mystery fresh and addictive from the moment it’s introduced. Walt Longmire is a favorite for a reason.

Sheriff Walt Longmire uncovers a cold case that hits very close to home and forces him to put his life on the line with implications that some people would kill to keep buried forever

Sheriff Walt Longmire and Dog are called on a routine search and rescue to Wyoming’s Big­horn Mountains, where Walt finds himself on a rock outcropping remembering when his father told him about the first time he saw a man die. In the late forties, Bill Sutherland was shot but the investigation was stymied because no mem­ber of the elk camp—where he was found—was carrying the caliber rifle that killed the state accountant. When Dog discovers the miss­ing weapon, the sheriff of Absaroka County is plunged headfirst into a cold case. His inves­tigation quickly finds ties to a hidden mineral fund that someone is willing to kill to keep secret. The embodiment of the fair-minded detective, Walt is pushed to his ethical bound­aries. In his relentless pursuit of the truth, he discovers the rifle in question belonged to none other than Walt’s infamous and uncompromis­ing grandfather, Lloyd Longmire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593297315
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/05/2023
Series:	Walt Longmire Series
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	36,700
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire. He is the recipient of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for fiction and the Mountain & Plains Independent Booksellers Association's Reading the West Book Award for fiction. His novella Spirit of Steamboat was the first One Book Wyoming selection. He lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population 26.

Editorial Reviews

07/17/2023

A standard rescue mission reopens an old mystery in Johnson’s standout 19th outing for Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire (after 2022’s Hell and Back). While responding to a 911 call from a woman lost in the mountains, Longmire spots a 1940s-era rifle stuffed among some nearby rocks. He retrieves it and confirms it’s the same type of weapon that killed Bill Sutherland, Wyoming’s state accountant, in 1948. Sutherland had been hunting elk with a party including Longmire’s grandfather, Lloyd, the state treasurer, the treasurer’s chief clerk, and hunting guide Clarence Standing Bear. Contemporary local reports speculated that Sutherland either took his own life or suffered an accident, but rumors spread that he was intentionally killed by someone he’d been hunting with—possibly Lloyd. Longmire’s discovery spurs him to try to close the cold case and, hopefully, exonerate his late grandfather. The whodunit, which presents a dizzying number of red herrings, is one of Johnson’s trickiest, keeping readers deliciously off-balance throughout. Series newcomers will have no problem jumping into the action, and longtime readers will relish the dive into Longmire’s family history. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2023-06-21
Longmire lovers, rejoice! He’s back with a deeply personal case that uncovers family secrets.

Walt Longmire, sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, has a long record of solving crimes under unorthodox circumstances. This time, Walt’s hunt for a lost tourist leads to an investigation that’s both personally wrenching and dangerous. The search area recalls a story his father told him about an elk hunt he went on as a teen with his own father, Lloyd. During the hunt, the state accountant, Big Bill Sutherland, was shot and killed, and his murder is still unsolved. When Walt finds the tourist, he also finds a buried, custom-made .300 H&H Magnum that was probably the murder weapon in the Sutherland case. The owner of that rifle was Lloyd Longmire, a wealthy man and a tough taskmaster who used chess lessons to teach Walt about not only the game, but about life. This coldest of cold cases forces Walt to look into his grandfather, with whom he continued to have an adversarial relationship away from the chessboard. Although Walt and cemetery expert Jules Beldon find an empty coffin in Sutherland’s grave, Lucian Connally, who’d been the sheriff when Sutherland was killed, is extremely reticent about the ancient mystery. But Beldon’s shooting turns the cold case hot, and a long conversation with a childhood friend who’s now an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stirs up long-lost memories for Walt. Powerful people pressure him to forget the old case, which is tied to vast amounts of money in a hidden fund. It doesn’t matter: Walt has his own moral code, refuses to bend, and is ready to unmask his grandfather as a murderer if that’s where the clues lead.

Learning the history of a beloved protagonist raises an exciting mystery to a higher level.

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for The Longmire Defense

"[A] standout . . . The whodunit, which presents a dizzying number of red herrings, is one of Johnson’s trickiest, keeping readers deliciously off-balance throughout. Series newcomers will have no problem jumping into the action, and longtime readers will relish the dive into Longmire’s family history."
—Publishers Weekly

"Longmire lovers, rejoice! He’s back with a deeply personal case that uncovers family secrets . . . Learning the history of a beloved protagonist raises an exciting mystery to a higher level."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

From the Publisher

George Guidall once again enchants listeners with his performance of the characters in this 19th audiobook in Craig Johnson's Longmire series. Guidall's rich, weathered tones perfectly convey Sheriff Walt Longmire--Guidall's voice is now synonymous with the character in the audiobooks. With deft skill, Guidall navigates shifts in rhythm, pitch, and accent, smoothly distinguishing characters of all ages and genders, even capturing Longmire as a child. The plot focuses on a 70-year-old crime involving Longmire's grandfather. For Walt, the crime dredges up their rocky relationship. Listeners learn more about Longmire's family history, Wyoming's government and financial structures, rules of law in the Wild West, and Longmire's current love life. In this captivating audiobook Johnson's atmospheric storytelling and Guidall's masterful delivery engage from start to finish. E.Q. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2023 - AudioFile