Another Man's Moccasins: A Longmire Mystery (2008 original; edició 2020)

Even more disjointed than the last, but this time in a good way that I didn't actually expect to be good until it was. I have a positive loathing for stories that split back and forth across two time separated story lines, but this manged to make a go of it that I didn't hate.

Which sounds like faint praise, I suppose, but the upshot is that I enjoyed a form I normally hate, and the flow between time periods actually worked. ( )

Moving between two stories, Longmire is working on a murder mystery in Wyoming and remembering a case in Vietnam. Folks say that this is not the best of this series, but I like the way the two stories echo each other while the Vietnam story adds context to why Walt and Henry are the way they are. ( )

Flashbacks to Vietnam, and the murder of an Asian girl dominate this book. ( )

Even better storytelling than usual, with some key insights into Longmire's history.

"Another Man's Moccasins" unfolds two mysteries, separated by decades, in tandem. Longmire himself is the only obvious link. As he solves the modern-day mystery of a Vietnamese girl murdered in Wyoming, he has to revisit his experiences as a young military investigator in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive in 1968.

Craig Johnson raised his game for this fourth Walt Longmire mystery. With perfect pacing, he managed to keep me tense and keep me guessing about both mysteries.

The Vietnam part of the story shows a young Walt Longmire that is not yet the Sheriff he will one day become but who already has the cornerstones of his character deeply embedded. The action sequences in Vietnam are fear-filled, violent, completely unglamorous and credibly explain how it was that Walt came to be so heavily decorated without ever seeing himself as a hero.

The modern-day part of the story focused on the abuse of power and pulled no punches in describing how badly the justice system can treat a huge, taciturn Crow warrior, even when he has served his country with honour and how processes that are set up to do good can be twisted to deliver something as evil as human trafficking.

By the end of the book, as well as have two mysteries satisfactorily solved, I understood a lot more about Longmire's empathy for those who have been badly treated and his controlled but always present anger at those who abuse power. ( )

Initially Longmire is challenged with the rehabilitation of his daughter who continues to recover from a head injury. That challenge is replaced by the mystery of the body of a young Vietnamese woman discovered at the roadside. Another character Virgil, a huge Indian is also introduced at the beginning - first as a suspect, then as a damaged soul. Longmire has to confront his time as an investigator in Vietnam during the war.
The story is more complex becoming very engaging. While Longmire is injured again, this time it is in the past during the Tet offensive in Vietnam,. ( )