Longmire stories; Burning Room

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, November 2014; written by Tammy Dinsmore

I hope you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you get some time to relax and curl up with a good book during the holidays. I’m happy because two of my favorite authors have new releases this fall!

The first is a book of short stories, “Wait for Signs: Twelve Longmire Stores” by Craig Johnson. These stories were originally written each year around the holidays and were sent out to folks who had subscribed to his newsletter. This is the first time they have been collected and put into one volume. I didn’t know about his newsletter, so I was unaware of these stories until this book came out.

Not all of the stories are mysteries, but they all take place when Walt Longmire, Sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming is off duty.

The first story, “Wait for Signs” has Walt taking Lonnie Little Bird to a doctor’s appointment. They stop in at a diner to get a bite to eat and discover that a robbery has just taken place. After answering questions from both the deputy and sheriff of Big Horn County, they get ready to leave, but it seems that Lonnie Little Bird knows right where to find the suspect. So off they go to get the bad guy. I won’t tell you how Lonnie Little Bird knew who did it and where to find him; you need to read the story for yourself!

“Petunia, Bandit Queen of the Bighorns” is about sheep. More particularly, it is a story about a wayward ewe, Petunia, who has been spotted all over the Big Horn Mountains and has evaded capture for the past six years. But her luck has run out. This is a fun story with a surprising ending!

I enjoyed reading all of the stories in “Wait for Signs”, and I’m already looking forward to the author’s next “Longmire” novel.

Michael Connelly’s new Harry Bosch mystery is in! I have just started this one and it is shaping up to be a good read.

I will share a little bit of the plot synopsis from the author’s website for “The Burning Room.” ”In the LAPD’s Open-Unsolved Unit, not many murder victims die a decade after the crime. So when a man succumbs to complications from being shot by a stray bullet ten years earlier, Bosch catches a case in which the body is still fresh, but any other clues are virtually nonexistent.”

Harry Bosch has a new partner in this book also, and she is looked down upon by many in the LAPD thinking that she didn’t earn the position that she is in in the Open-Unsolved Unit. I am looking forward to what this partnership will bring to the storyline.

There are many genres to choose from here at the library, so if mysteries aren’t your thing, come in and browse the shelves. We try to have a little something for everyone.