‘The Western Star’ is a Longmire book that has everything: a solid mystery told in two timelines, a visit with a younger, much angrier and more violent younger version of Walt, a riff on ‘Murder On The Orient Express’ with a murder on a steam train full of sheriffs heading into the Wyoming mountains during a snow storm and a plot that moves the series story arc forward into what looks to be a great deal of violence.

I really enjoyed learning more about who Walt Longmire used to be before he became the Sheriff that we know today. The last time this happened was in the fourth Longmire book, ‘Another Man’s Moccasins’ which was also a dual timeline mystery, one of which covered some of Walt’s time as an Army investigator in Vietnam during the war. Much of ‘The Western Star’ takes place in 1972 when Walt, newly returned from Vietnam and newly married, has been working as Deputy Sheriff for Lucian Connally for two months. It shows us a Walt Longmire who has a troubled marriage, a short temper, a habit of using violence to solve problems and who is not at all clear on what he wants to do next. This Walt could as easily have been a criminal as a Sheriff. He could also have taken his wife’s advice and become a college professor in Literature He’s still a reader. He’s still deeply curious about the world around him, past and present and he still has a need to get to the truth regardless of the consequences.

His investigation into the death of a Sheriff on ‘The Western Star’ during the annual junket of the Wyoming Sheriffs Association is a strong mystery with a surprising amount of action for something set on a train, a plot that packs several surprises, and a fun riff on ‘Murder On The Orient Express’, a copy of which Walt is carrying with him. At one point a sheriff claims that all murder mysteries have only four solutions: he did it, she did it, no one did it, they all did it. Craig Johnson then goes on to prove this statement wrong.

The present-day timeline in ‘The Western Star’ is linked to the events of 1972, although in ways that are not immediately clear, but it’s there mainly as a bridge to the next book. I liked the way Craig Johnson showed me a 1972 Walt Longmire who was more warrior than lawman and then made it clear that Walt is going to need to reconnect with his younger self to do what needs to be done to solve the present-day problem that ‘The Western Star’ ends on.

This was a very satisfying read which, as usual, was made more enjoyable by George Guidall’s distinctive narration. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.