Craig Johnson: The Highway Man, Viking, Penguin Random House US, 9780735220898, small hardback,

Every once in a while I need an armchair trip to Wyoming , doing so with  sheriff Walt Longmire and his best friend Henry Standing bear, mysteries created by Craig Johnson – his writing reminds me more and more of my beloved Tony Hillerman Navajo novels.   The books provide the basis for a highly successful TV series, streaming on Netflix but I prefer using my own imagination instead.

The latest novella, “The Highway Man”, has just been published, a modern ghost story set in the Wind River Canyon, slightly outside of Walt Longmire’s normal jurisdiction. The book has all the mystical Native American elements so familiar in Hillerman’s novels.

Patrolwoman Rosey Wayman starts to receive mysterious “officer needs assistance” calls, despite the area being known for its lack of radio communication. What is even more startling, they seem to come from Bobby Womack who died a gruesome death in a fire when patrolling the canyon area.  Her supervisor suspects psychological problems doubting Rosey’s sanity and asks outsiders Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear to look into the matter. The mystical, enigmatic canyon does not fail to pull them both in, contemplating the existence of ghost legend “The Highway Man”. 

Johnson does a great job resolving the mystery with an ending I will not reveal in case you want to check out this atmospheric mystery. 

I enjoyed every page, can't wait to read the next book coming in the autumn already, “An obvious Fact”.