You absolutely cannot judge a book by its cover, but in this case that would be a good thing to do. The cover art on “Kindness Goes Unpunished” calls to mind pulp fiction and is darn near as good as the book it enfolds. But you won’t find cheap pulp or, for that matter, cheap tricks in Wyoming author Craig Johnson’s third Walt Longmire mystery.
You would think it would take more than a class of kindergarteners to put Walt off his stride. He has been the sheriff of Wyoming’s Absaroka County for 23 years, but this read-aloud session leaves him wondering if he’s cut out to face the coming generation.
It’s just one more reason to look forward to his upcoming trip. His longtime friend, Henry Standing Bear, is scheduled to exhibit his Mennonite photography collection at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. It’s the perfect excuse for Walt to drop in on his daughter Cady, “The Greatest Legal Mind of Our Time” and a Philadelphia lawyer. They could fly, but choose not to. Henry notes it has been a long time since he’s seen the country up close, so they head east in Lola, a powder blue 1959 Thunderbird convertible.
The two arrive in Philly to little incident; Walt talks to Cady by phone, agreeing to see her later that the evening. He’s waiting at her apartment when the police show up with bleak news. Cady has been brutally attacked and is in intensive care in a coma. Her chances for survival are slim.
Walt’s family is thin. He has lost his wife to cancer; he is unable to give up hope on his daughter. And, being an investigator as much by inclination as by profession, he heads off to solve the mystery of his daughter’s attack.
Walt is not alone in his search. His deputy in Wyoming, Victoria Moretti, is a Philadelphia transplant and comes from a law enforcement family. Her mother, Lena Moretti, had invited herself to Cady’s apartment for dinner, and is with Walt when he is notified of the attack on his daughter.
Cady has been romantically involved with a lawyer, Devon Conliffe, whose roots are a Main Line family. It seems likely that Conliffe is her attacker, but Walt is unable to find out why; shortly after he tracks the man down, Conliffe is thrown off a bridge to his death. As the narrative unfolds, it becomes clear that Cady’s boyfriend had been associated with some shady characters.
Walt is dead serious about finding out why his daughter has been attacked, and in bringing those responsible to justice; he’s not dead serious about himself. It’s an attitude that juxtaposes a bit of the freewheeling Wild West against a buttoned-up East, and it definitely works.
“Kindness Goes Unpunished” is, on its face, a police procedural, but it is one driven by character. The reader is drawn in by Walt’s voice and kept in by a wonderful cast of supporting players. This is a novel of people and place as much as it is about the twists and turns of events.
Robin Vidimos reviews books for The Denver Post and Buzz in the ‘Burbs.
IN TOWN
Craig Johnson will be at the LoDo Tattered Cover, 1628 16th St., Denver, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday; Murder by the Book, 1574 S. Pearl St., at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday; and at High Crimes Mystery Bookshop, 946 Pearl St., Boulder, at 7 p.m. Thursday.
FICTION
Kindness Goes Unpunished
By Craig Johnson
$23.95
