REVIEW: Another Man's Moccasins

Another Man's Moccasins
Author: Craig Johnson

Very rarely do I find that I enjoy both the book version and television adaptation of a series. The Walt Longmire series is one such rare case. I actually watched the television series long before I read the books. That breaks one of my cardinal rules of reading and film/television watching -- always read the book(s) first. But, in my defense, at the time I didn't know that the television show was based (a bit loosely in spots) on Craig Johnson's books. When the television show ended, I learned that there were several books. It was like hitting the western-adventure-cop-story-loving-bibliophile mother lode. That moment was where I butted up against one of my other book behaviors. I'm a bit OCD when it comes to reading series .... I can't read books out of order if they are in a series and I want the entire series available to me before I start reading. So I started collecting the books....one here, one there, used copy found here, gift copy from friends there. I started collecting while Netflix was showing the final season of the show....and in 2019, I still hadn't started reading the books.

I'm turning over a new leaf. I don't wait to have physical copies of books any more.....I have 3 library cards. Yep -- three. A large metro and two smaller regional libraries. There are now very few books I can't find at a library either in physical or digital format.....and those elusive few books are the ones I spend time weaseling up a physical copy. I can still keep my OCD reading habits.....the whole series lined up and waiting. I just read some of the books on my Ipad or online. Tink, tink, tink -- Longmire fell into place. And....I'm reading!

The best thing about the entire situation?? The Longmire book series continues!! In fact, Craig Johnson just put out a new book in the series in 2019. The television series might be finished, but I can still get my Longmire fix! Yahooooo! Vic is still salty. Henry Standing Bear is still spiritual. Longmire still catches the bad guys. I love it!

Ok....well I suppose I am technically supposed to be reviewing Another Man's Moccasins -- the 4th book in the Longmire series. Through the lovely offerings of my library peeps, I am listening to the audio book versions of the first few books. The holiday season does not lend itself to long reading jags....so while cooking, cleaning, and doing the usual festivities, I have been listening to George Guidall read Johnson's book to me. Guidall is an excellent voice actor....he brings the story to life. I still see the television actors from the series in my head (I have to imagine Katee Sackoff with dark hair though since the book description of the character is so different from the actress) as I listen.(Casting was excellent for that show!)

The story is part flashback to Walt's time in Vietnam during the war and part present day. A Vietnamese woman is found dead along the side of the highway. Turns out, the death is related to one Walt investigated while in Vietnam.

This book series has won awards for a reason. The stories are always well-written with strong, developed characters. I love the mix of humor, police investigation and tribal culture.

I don't usually care for stories that pop back and forth in time, but in this case it worked. The story grabbed my attention in the first few pages and kept it until the very end. Definitely another great story in this series!

There are currently 15 books in the Walt Longmire series, plus a few novellas published in between full-length books. I'm  moving on to #5 -- The Dark Horse.