Craig Johnson’s fourth Walt Longmire mystery, “Another Man’s Moccasins,” reveals a writer who’s really hit his stride and has a blue-ribbon win on his hands. Johnson has created an appealing and varied cast of characters who populate the rural high plains of Absaroka County, Wyo., trying to keep countryside safe and sound.
Walt is the county sheriff, a widower with one daughter, Cady. In Johnson’s previous book, “Kindness Goes Unpunished,” Cady was a hotshot lawyer in Philadelphia until she suffered a severe head injury and almost died. In the new novel, she is back home with Dad and working on her recovery. How her brain will heal no one knows.
“Another Man’s Moccasins” opens with the discovery of a young, dead Vietnamese girl found just off the highway. Walt laments that for a sheriff in the West, one of the most frustrating parts of the job is the “body dump.”
The vast spaces offer great opportunities for getting rid of human remains. For the local police officers, though, these sites usually reveal little in the way of clues and therefore offer minimal chance to identify the victims or bring their murderers to justice.
Found near the body in a culvert is a giant of a Crow Indian who does his best to decimate the entire sheriff’s department. He makes a convenient and ready suspect. Eventually, Walt and company discover that this man is a Vietnam vet. As details of his life unfold, there is a tragic similarity to the character Mogie, also a Vietnam vet, from Chris Eyre’s movie “Skins.”
Walt’s best friend is known as “The Bear” or “The Cheyenne Nation,” although his real name is Henry Standing Bear. Walt and Henry have been friends since childhood, serving in Vietnam at the same time. While Walt was a Marine inspector, Bear was in Special Ops.
As he often does, Walt enlists Bear’s help to identify the mysterious 7-foot mountain of a man who literally shakes the jail whenever he is left alone in his cell. The small department stands guard in shifts outside the cell, to keep the suspect company and the building intact.
Vietnam plays a big role here, and the action flows back and forth between the present and the war in 1968. Walt was sent to Tan Son Nhut to investigate illegal drugs after a young soldier died of an overdose after leaving the large airbase.
While there, Walt befriends a 15-year-old bar girl, Mai Kim, and teaches her English. This fact becomes an important clue when an old photo of Walt and Mai is found among the spare belongings of the victim.
Back in the here and now of Wyoming, the Vietnamese population of the county doubles when Tran Van Tuyen, a Vietnamese businessman from the Los Angeles area, turns up.
Tuyen claims to be the grandfather of the victim, HoThi Paquet. She is one of the “Dust Children,” descended from a child of a Vietnamese mother and an American father.
Tuyen is involved in a nonprofit organization that brings together Amerasians with their American relatives. As the investigation continues, Walt learns about the human trafficking of 50,000 young Asian women for the U.S. sex trade.
While checking on Tuyen with a fellow officer from Southern California, Walt learns of more than 40 people trapped in the back of a truck and left to die in the deadly heat. How this ties into Walt’s case is unclear until another missing person is brought into the picture. Walt, Bear and the rest of the department continue following the scant leads until it looks as though Walt has a chance of putting at least one dumped victim to rest with a little western justice done to her killer.
One of the great appeals of a mystery series, especially one written by such a fine writer as Johnson, is returning periodically to a set of characters and their lives and getting to learn more about them. Even the smaller characters, such as Lucian Connally, former sheriff and Walt’s weekly chess partner, enliven and enrich the action.
Then there’s Ruby, the dispatcher, to whom Walt regularly sings his limited repertoire of Ruby songs. Johnson’s mysteries are populated with people who may have small parts but they are well formed and add to the texture of the story.
Major characters like Bear and “Vic,” Walt’s female undersheriff, add history, tension and depth to the two complicated murder mysteries that span over 40 years and two continents. Vic is a recent transplant from Philadelphia. Her presence brings a youthful, edgy voice to the series.
Vic is giving Walt a hard time about the status of their relationship. While they were back East in the previous book, Walt and Vic had an “encounter.”
Now that they are back home in Wyoming, Walt is confused and unsure of what, if anything, to do next. Making the situation even more precarious is the fact that Vic’s younger brother Michael, also a cop, is becoming involved with Cady, Walt’s daughter.
These are only the personal complications. The mystery continues with its dangerous and deadly events in two time periods.
In “Another Man’s Moccasins,” Johnson executes flashbacks flawlessly and to great effect. For those who were lucky enough to miss the hell that was Vietnam, Johnson brings the smells, sweat and heat to life. The author does not delve into the political aspects of Vietnam, but concentrates on the human struggle and the toll it took on a generation of Americans.
Johnson writes well and it is hoped that he will continue to write often. He employs gentle, wry humor in his dialogue, especially in Walt’s thoughts and his interactions with Bear and others.
Johnson also educates the reader with interesting tidbits about local and especially Cheyenne history. The facts are cleverly woven into the story and the action roars ahead.
“Another Man’s Moccasins” is the kind of book that should bring Johnson to the attention of a larger audience while keeping his growing legion of fans happy. They look forward to the continuing saga that is Walt’s life and work.
Leslie Doran is a freelance writer in Durango.
Fiction
Another Man’s Moccasins, by Craig Johnson, $23.95
