Download The Cold Dish (Walt Longmire, #1) Curated By Craig Johnson Shown In Hardcover

watched the Longmire Series when it was on TV and enjoyed it very much, A GR friend recommended reading the books so I started with the first, The Cold Dish written back in,

This is one of those warm and friendly type of books, A nice change to a murder mystery with a western backdrop taking place in a small town in Wyoming, Walt Longmire, sheriff foryears, widowed, gives us a wonderful description of the beautiful country seen thru his eyes, His friendship with Henry Standing Bear and his banter with deputy Vic Victoria Moretti add nicely to the story line,

An interesting twist toward the end of the book as to whom was murdering the boys convicted of raping a disabled Cheyenne girl a few years

back.


A good series for mystery and western lovers,

out ofstars,

Per usual, you can find this review and others like it at sitelink Tome Raider


This was my first contemporary mystery and I couldn't be more happy with this book.


Walt Lomgmire is the Sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming,years agoteenage boys were found guilty of raping a young Northern Cheyenne girl, But they were only given a suspended sentence, Fast forward to present day and one of those boys, Cody Pritchard, has just been found murdered, Walt is given the case and quickly finds out that the other boys lives might also be in danger, Given that there's a rather big Indian presence in Absaroka County, the murder doesn't really come as a surprise, It starts to look like a clear cut case, until the evidence starts pointing at other people, The case becomes more and more confusing the more ol' Walt investigates, We're taken on a truly awesome and tension packed ride as we try and figure out who is carrying out these murders before every one of these boys are picked off.


Aboutyears ago I was really big into rodeo, Me and my buddy would travel out home state of Oklahoma and even go as far as Texas, Kansas, or Missouri if it meant we could get entered in and ride we did saddle bronc, fyi.
Wyoming was somewhere we always dreamed of going, So hearing that this is set in Wyoming piqued my interest, Johnson does such an amazing job of really bringing out the beauty of this gorgeous state through in his writing, We also get such a vivid picture of this small little town that I might just up and move there, I was so surprised at just how great he was at really making you feel like you were there, He also rivals GRRM with his love for making you super hungry through his descriptions of food, Seriously, I was constantly hungry throughout this book, I was so lucky I didn't have food near me, or else I would've snacked the whole time,

The characters he has created were all so perfect for this book, I can't think of a single character I disliked, Which is extremely rare. It's also rare for me to like the main character more than the side characters, Walt Longmire is the kind of guy that'd be fun to just hang out with, Especially if his buddy Henry Standing Bear was with him to cook some of his delicious sounding meals!

The plot moves at a decent pace.
There towards the end I did feel as if it could've ended sooner, but you quickly realize that Johnson made a sound decision for not ending it sooner.
It just sets it up for a really great twist ending, And a very emotional one at that,

Now, as much as I absolutely loved this book, it definitely has it's faults, Not many, but there are a few, Even though I understand why the ending was stretched out, I still felt themay not be super accurate, but my best estimation section of the book could've been written a little bit better.
This was a very small amount of the book, but I was definitely pretty bored for this part, Also, I could've done without all the food descriptions, It felt a bit much at times and made me way too hungry, but that's more of a personal problem there, My last complaint was how just about every female character seems to just swoon over Walt, I can't recall a single female that wasn't in love with him, It was pretty eyeroley is that a word at times,


Other than those rather petty complaints, I couldn't have been more surprised at how much I loved this book.
It had a plot that was well paced for the most part, great characters, hilarious banter, Walt's inner monologue was so great and funny, and so many twists and turns that I was dizzy and disoriented by the end.
If you're a fan of contemporary mysteries, or just mysteries in general, so yourself a favor and pick this series up, Two years ago, four boys were put on trial for raping a Cheyenne girl, When one of them winds up dead, sheriff Walt Longmire finds himself in the middle of murder investigation, Plenty of people had cause for wanting Cody Prichard dead but who had the guts to do the deed And are his three compadres next on the hit list

In my neverending quest to sample what series crime fiction has to offer, I decided to give The Cold Dish a try.
After all, AampE wouldn't make a crime series about a dud, would they

The setting sets the Cold Dish apart from most crime fiction on the racks.
A sleepy Wyoming town next to an Indian reservation is a far crime from most metropolitan cesspools, Walt Longmire isn't a super cop by any means, He's out of his depth and he knows it, His feelings about his daughter, his deceased wife, and Vonna, the woman he's recently taken a shine to, make him seem human and vulnerable.


The supporting cast is also interesting, although I thought some of the Native American portrayals might be leaning toward stereotypes.
I liked the backstory and I loved that I had no idea who the murderer was until Walt did,

And now here's the stuff I wasn't crazy about, This very much felt like a first novel, particularly in the first half, Also, the author overused pronouns and sometimes it was hard to figure out which "he" or "she" he was talking about, The pace also dragged. For the firstof the book, I thought it was so average that I couldn't pick it out of a police lineup.


The last hundred pages was the saving grace of the book, The story got the kick in the ass it needed and I wound up digging it quite a bit by the end.


All things considered, I'm awarding this a,. It's good and I want to read more about Longmire but there are other detectives in line ahead of him, I love Walt Longmire. Craig Johnson has written a wonderful cast of characters, Wry, gritty and interesting, the story held my attention throughout and the ending was a surprise! Well done, A group of friends and I have something that we like to call Forced Book Reads, where we each choose a book and make the whole gang read it.
Or at least they have to if they want the others to read THEIR book, For my selection, I went with Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig, and now it's my friend Chris's turn, and he chose this,

I would like to state for the record at this point that, as a whole, I did like this book.
However, pretty early on, I noticed some nitpicky little things that started to bother me, and once I strap on my Nitpickers, they don't come off that easily and I'll be walking around in them for a goodish while.


So let's get this show on the road and start with the issues, First of which is the fact that I called the whodunnit and why at, so it was pretty predictable as far as the plot went.
Hint: It was NOT Colonel Mustard in the Conservatory with the rope, I can pinpoint the exact moment I knew because I have a note on my Kindle with my prediction, which was even before thend body was discovered, though not by much.


The main character figures it out at, This in itself is not unusual, that the main character figures things out very close to the end of the story, but I bring it up because I had to wade throughmore before the main character, a Sheriff who in many other ways seems to be very intuitive and experienced, got with the program.


The reader if they aren't there yet is filled in on the who atand the why at, I bring THIS up because of the style and blatant obfuscation attempts in the narrative, I'll come back to this,

And in between all of that is a whole mess of description and, . . to be honest, filler.

I really enjoy mysteries and I love when they keep me on my toes, I love smart and fastpaced thrillers that think they were a freight train in their past life and just run you down if you can't keep up.
But then there are the mysteries that are a slower pace, that take the time and set the stage and work up to things slowly.
Those can be just as enjoyable, but they require a more deft hand and a surer sense of direction,

Imagine that the story is giving you directions for how to get to Brad's party after school on Friday while his parents are out of town.
The fastpaced story will tell you to take the interstate, get off at exitand fuck the roads, just drive due north across the fields until you see Keg Mountain in front of Brad's parents' house.
minutes from your last class to the site of your future beercoma,if you "forget" you said you'd give that moocher Joey a ride because he's always late and you don't feel like waiting.
Also, GAH! When will he buy his own car

This book would take you straight through town at a funerealMPH because it's also a school zone, then have you turn right and take State Routeformiles.
Hook a left at the site of the old Barnett farm, which they lostyears ago during the drought, Poor old man Barnett. He now lives with his daughter and soninlaw in St, Petersburg Florida, and hates the humidity and misses the mountains and feels like a burden, so he drinks too much and is a little too irritable with the grandkids, and the patience is wearing thin on the living situation, and poor old man Barnett may end up in a "retirement community" where nobody will visit him and he'll die alone listening to Bernice in the room next door have long, loud arguments with her husband who died in.
So, left at the farm, and then continue on this road for a while, until you see the lightningstruck tree, You'll know it's the RIGHT lightningstruck tree because there will be a carving of Jesus' face in the tree bark, Some say the lightning did that but I was there the night Sam got drunk and thought it would be funny to convince the town it was a miracle.
He used a paring knife, but it got the job done, and the rubes in town do think it's a miracle, despite the fact that it happenedmonths after the tree was hit.
Apparently miracles take time. At the Jesus tree, make another left, and then a sharp right onto Hooker Creek Road, so named because the family that used to own the land would hook fish out of the creek using repurposed wire hangers, not because there are hookers in the creek.
Stay on that road for aboutminutes, and just LOOK at that scenery, . . and then Wait, didn't we pass Brad's houseminutes ago I have to go to the bathroom, . .

That's a bit, uhh, . . hyperbolic, I admit, but it's not inapt, This is definitely a slow build of a book, and for so much of it, there's just not a lot going on but scenery.
We get descriptions of the town, the reservation, the inhabitants of both, the mountains and the general outside areas of Absaroka County, as well as the weather, the weather, the weather, and also the pricipitational habits of the great outdoors.
I'll save you some time: Warmish and sunny, but getting cooler, then cold, Cold. Colder. Snowy. More snow. Snow with fog. Blizzard.

This book had something of an identity crisis, There were times when it felt like it wanted to be something, anything, other than what it was, It is a slowbuild murder mystery set in Small Town, Wyoming, What it seemed like it wanted to be, at times, was everything else, Joke book, travelogue, Park amp Field Guidebook, romance, Native American historical, litigation thriller, meteorological almanac, and a literary reference guide, to name a few options.
Add to that the fact that the narrative jumped around seemingly at random, and it's rather offputting and confusing, The first few times, I was convinced that there were parts missing from the ebook, But then it kept happening, and I realized that was just part of the style, Most of the narrative shifts, which, in my experience usually come with a small bombshell to tease the reader that when we come back to this point, there will be something worthwhile there waiting, just kind of fizzled out and went nowhere.


So, let's talk about the style a bit more, There was something strange about it. Not just that it jumped around without any rhyme or reason, but also because the narrative didn't like to actually divulge who was talking.
Sometimes it was just like Johnson forgot to mention who was involved in a conversation, like when Walt made a phone call and "she" answered.
Maybe this was a misstep during the editing process and he fully intended to go back and specify who "she" was, but deadlines loom, and it's not a dealbreaker.
But other times, it felt very intentional, the identity of the people involved in something, other than Walt, were purposefully hidden from the reader to create a sense of suspense, or foreboding, or something.
This is what I was referring to in the beginning of this review, when I mentioned the obfuscation in the narrative, but it was noticeable, and sometimes quite obvious, which isn't good.


Part of the reason I think it didn't work is that Craig Johnson just doesn't have a great sense of timing.
There was a section, from abouttoor so, that got to chugging along quite nicely, and I thought, "Oh good this is finally starting to get going!" but then it just dropped off again and lost focus.
Something important to the plot would happen, and rather than following that thread, we'd wander off into a description of the scene, or a bit of history regarding guns, or what an eagle feather symbolizes, or maybe a little memory of the trial, which is the link between the victims.
Important stuff to the story, . . but awkwardly timed to interrupt the flow of the narrative, rather than enhance it, I admit that I skimmed a goodish amount of these sections,

One more thing about the writing, and then I promise I'll say something positive, There were a few times when Walt went all technobabble on me, which is OK, but I would hope that there would be an English translation for the lay readers who might not know what the hell he's saying.
For instance: "Massive cavitations with a lot of radiopague snowstorm, "

Oh yeah, well "Elucidation nonexistent despite a voluminous perplexity of confabulation, "

In your FACE,

One of the best things about the style was the sense of humor, I loved Walt's sarcasm and wit, and I especially loved how he and Henry played off of each other, Their scenes were among my favorite in the whole book, and honestly, I could've swapped out the whole plot of the book for just a bunch more scenes with Walt and Henry.


I did like most of the characters in the book this little town seemed peopled with interesting, smart, and funny characters with loads of personality.
Most of them, anyway. I really enjoyed the characters, and think that's a definite check mark on the Positive column for this book,

Where the negative check mark comes back in is regarding their names, Quite a few of them have similar sounding names: Cody and Cady, Vic, Vonnie, Vern, Ernie/Ernest this last one just because of the similarity of 'ern' sound in my head, . And a decent sized majority of them have, in my opinion, literary names, I first thought of this when a group of three new people were introduced in the course of a few sentences: Kyle Straub, Jules Belden, and Vern Selby.
It's impossible to read Jules and Vern in the same sentence and not think of Jules Verne, And the name "Straub" gives me an eye twitch, so of course I'm going to think of the horrible, horrible writer who shares the name.


But wait, there's more,

Vonnie Hayes / Vonnie Hughes
Kyle Straub / Peter Straub
Jules Belden / Jules Verne
Vern Selby / Twofer: Jules Verne amp Hubert Selby Jr
Dorothy Caldwell / Dorothy Parker
Henry Standing Bear / O.
Henry or Henry Miller or Henry James My vote goes for James as his reference Henry likes the ghost stories,
Walt Longmire / Walt Whitman

Now, in case you're just tuning in, I love me some books, I love reading them, I love thinking about reading them, I love when other people read them and so on, I usually appreciate book references in other books, They are like little Easter eggs to be found, But they didn't really work for me in this book,

I have no doubt that Walt is an intelligent person, He went to college albeit briefly, before he lost his deferment and was drafted to Vietnam, and was made an MP, He has been in law enforcement ever since, but I'm not of the opinion that that means that he can't enjoy reading.
It just seems strange to me because he DIDN'T read at all during the course of this book, yet rattled off literary references and quotes like they were tattooed on the inside of his eyelids.
He can spot literary style thieverydifferent ways insentences written by the local journalist, and has a witty quip for just about every occasion.
Yet he never reads a book that I noticed, When he's home, he's sulking and drinking though not in the 'jaded alcoholic detective' way just in the 'unwinding after a long day in my empty, lonely house' way.
But OK Maybe he has a really good memory for books he read in college, Sure. Stranger things have happened.

So yeah. There's a lot of nitpicky stuff that just rubbed me the wrong way while reading this, BUT all that bitching aside, I did enjoy the book, mainly for Walt and Henry, and I'd bet a few dollars that the series gets better from here, so I'd be willing to give it a second chance.
Maybe Johnson will hit his stride in the second book, and the series would end up being great, .