The Cold Dish

The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson

This is the first book in the Walt Longmire series. I picked this book up after watching a couple of episodes of the new Longmire tv series. It was what I would classify as a Western mystery. It takes place in Wyoming(my neighbors to the West) and it is about Sheriff Walt Longmire and his crew.

It starts with the murder of one kid convicted of sexual assault and the suspect list is high. Lots of people would've wanted to hurt this kid and Walt has to sift through all the bad blood after the trial while dealing with competition for his reelection as sheriff.

I thought this book was good but not great. The secondary characters weren't that fleshed out and the only one I really found interesting was Lucian, the sheriff before Longmire. I found his commentary the best in the book. Vic didn't rub on you very well, coming off as bitter from the move and her attitude and language came off more as abrasive than endearing.

Longmire is an interesting character. He is a sheriff in Wyoming, can identify classical music and literature, and is moving on from the death of his wife several years ago. He is an interesting main character but I thought the author failed to address really the issue of being a widower and moving on to date other women. I thought that really was brushed aside and not addressed as fully as one would expect.

The ending was definitely not what I expected. There were a few hints of a connection between the murder victims now that I think back on the book but not enough to give away the finale.

My final verdict was that the book was good but I don't know if it was good enough for me to continue with the series. I just don't have a lot invested in the characters to keep reading. There was too much of describing the local color and not enough on creating tension from the murders. Normally, when I read a mystery or a thriller, there is that tangible tension when you are racing through the book, just waiting to find out who the killer or bady guy is. Not so much here. It wasn't a bad book, but I'll stick to watching the tv series.

Final Rating: 2.5 out of 5