Craig Johnson: Next to Last Stand, A Longmire Novel, 9780525522539, hardback, Viking US (Penguin Random House) 

In times when long distance travels hold very little attraction, an armchair trip to Wyoming countryside and Sheriff Walt Longmire’s turf is a welcome distraction  during the last days of summer . I have been a huge fan of Craig Johnson’s Longmire series for some time. 

In his latest novel “Next to Last Stand” the historical battle of Custer’s Last Stand plays a prime role but this time as a motive in a very valuable painting which was destroyed in a fire and was never seen again. When Walt is called to the Veteran’s Home of Soldiers and Sailors to look into Charlie Lee Stillwater’s sudden death of an apparent heart attack, they discover in his room a partial painting and a Florsheim shoe box filled with dollar bills amounting to one million dollars. How on earth did Charlie come into possession of so much money while disabled and living in a retirement home for Vietnam vets?

 

Walt does what he does best: investigating the trail of the money and the history of the mysterious painting taking the reader with him into the workings of the Absaroka Sheriff Department in the beautiful Wyoming countryside. “Next to Last Stand” I found a less fast paced and violent novel compared to other Longmire books but this made it particularly fascinating due to the  unfamiliar subject matter in comparison to Longmire’s usual type of investigations this time unveiling the dealings of the corrupt art world; I had a great time reading “Next to Last Stand”.