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Another Man’s Moccasins.
Johnson, Craig (author).
June 2008. 290p. Viking, hardcover, $23.95 (9780670018611).
REVIEW.
First published May 15, 2008 (Booklist).
In Kindness Goes Unpunished (2007), Absaroka County, Wyoming, Sheriff Walt Longmire took a road trip to Philadelphia. In a sense, he’s on the road this time, too, but his traveling takes place inside his head, after the discovery of the body of a young Vietnamese woman prompts memories of Walt’s first homicide investigation as a marine in Vietnam. It isn’t just the victim’s origins that send Walt down a nightmare-cluttered memory lane; found with her belongings is a picture of another Vietnamese woman, who looks strikingly like someone Walt knew very well more than 40 years earlier. Juxtaposing the current investigation against flashbacks to Vietnam, Johnson is able to reveal several new layers to the fascinating character of the aging, kindly, homespun sheriff and his best friend, Henry Standing Bear, who served with him in Vietnam. This series has distinguished itself so far with its rich portrayal of human relationships and daily life in small-town Wyoming. Those characteristics are well in evidence here, but the addition of the vivid and powerful Vietnam scenes provides a welcome jolt of frisson.
— Bill Ott
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